Where's Trixie
by daisyxduck
Summary: It's the summer holiday's, Brian and Jim are home from college, everyone's looking forward to the summer vacation ... so where is Trixie?
1. Chapter 1

Note:- This is NOT a follow on to Summer Conversations. Unfortunately, I still don't own the bobwhites or any of their friends and family members.

This is my first attempt at a mystery, so please be gentle with your reviews, please also keep in mind, that I am from New Zealand, and things are done differently here, plus I'm not a medical professional or police officer. I'm just writing for the fun of it.

**CHAPTER 1**

16yr old Trixie Belden and her best friend 15yr old Honey Wheeler were out riding, they were heading towards the bluffs, a favourite place of theirs.

"Wasn't the party last night perfectly perfect!" cried Honey.

"I haven't had so much fun in ages Honey, I'm so glad your parents let you host an end of year party at your place, I think everyone had a ball!" Trixie replied excitedly.

"That costume Tad Webster wore was hilarious!" Honey exclaimed. "But nothing could top the look on Jim's face when he asked me to dance, thinking I was you!"

"Yes that was funny!" Trixie laughed, remembering the shocked look on Jim's face when he realised his mistake.

Trixie and Honey had decided to go as each other, as they had done before in the past, but this time, they did things a little differently, the girls had brought semi-permanent dyes for their hair, Honey was now a strawberry blonde, and Trixie had light brown hair, then to top their "new looks" off, Trixie had used the hair straightener she had been given as a birthday present, to straighten her hair, and Honey had use curlers on hers. Jim had been behind them, when he put his hand on 'Trixie's' shoulder to ask for a dance, only to find that it had been Honey he was asking!

"He covered well though," Honey added.

Jim had taken Honey out on the dance floor anyway, since it had been her he had asked, but he had winked at Trixie, and said "I'll get to you next."

"He was really disappointed when we got back only to find you had been claimed by Nick Roberts for the next dance." Honey added, she knew Jim and Trixie had special feelings for each other, Jim never missed an opportunity to compliment Trixie, he would often gaze at her fondly while tugging on _his_ favourite curl, but on the other hand, Trixie was embarrassed and often denied she had any feelings for Jim, other than as a friend.

"I don't think he was too bothered Honey, he sure seemed to be enjoying his dance with Jane Morgan, when Nick and I passed them on the floor." Trixie retorted. She had been very jealous watching Jim with the other girl, and had become distracted, accidently standing on Nick's toes.

"I don't know about that Trixie, he never left your side after that!" Honey smiled at her friend, she hoped one day Trixie would be less embarrassed and finally admit how she felt about Jim.

Trixie blushing furiously changed the subject. "I'm so glad summer is finally here, no more school!"

"Picnic's at the lake!" Honey shouted.

"OHHH I hope something mysterious happens, we haven't had a new mystery for a while, it's been at least 6 months!" Trixie exclaimed.

"I don't think Brian and Jim would agree," Honey told her friend, "they are looking forward to a quiet summer, it's been a long hectic year for them at college, and they need to relax."

"We are quite capable of solving mysteries without their help Honey Wheeler, if they want to laze the day away by the lake, let them, I for one am just dying for another mystery. I can't wait till we are finished with college and open the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency."

"They would never forgive us, if we got involved in another mystery and didn't tell them!" Honey laughed, "I can just imagine the lectures we would get!"

Trixie groaned, "Don't remind me Honey, that's been the only good thing about Brian and Jim been away at college, they haven't been here to lecture us!"

"I don't know about you Trixie, but I got a lecture from Jim when they came home for the weekend, after we caught those car thieves in November, he couldn't believe we had gone and staked out the car wreckers by ourselves, and ended up locked in the boot of that car!" Honey shivered remembering how scared she had been squashed into the boot with Trixie. "I'm just so glad sergeant Mollison took your phone call seriously, and decided to investigate as well, or who knows what would have happened to us!"

Trixie laughed, "Do you remember the look on the sergeant's face when he opened the boot and found us in there?"

Honey started laughing too, "He looked like he wanted to shut the boot again and leave us there, I'm sure he almost did!"

The girls had reached the bluff by this time, they tied the horses to a low hanging branch, and walked over to the big rock they regularly used to sit on, both were quiet for a time, just enjoying the view of the Hudson river below them, when suddenly the horses whinnied loudly.

Trixie and Honey spun around, wondering what could have spooked the horses, to find two men standing behind them wearing ski masks, and they had guns pointed at both girls.

"Don't move or I'll shoot!" one of the men said.

Honey and Trixie were too terrified to move and stood still.

"Grab her!" said the taller man, pointing at Trixie.

"What about the other one?" his companion asked.

"No, we don't need her, just that one, hurry up before someone comes!" he snarled.

The shorter man came towards Trixie, and grabbed her, Trixie and Honey tried to fight him off, but the man slapped Honey across the face, causing her to fall back on to the ground banging her head on the rock.

Trixie looked at her friend lying on the ground, she could see she was unconscious, and she tried harder to fight the man off, while yelling for help, _if only they weren't so far away_, she thought, Trixie knew it wasn't likely that anyone would hear them.

Something was shoved over Trixie's face, she could smell something sweet, _chloroform_ was her last conscious thought.


	2. Chapter 2

Still don't own the characters!

**CHAPTER 2**

"Matt, Matt, where are you?"

Matthew Wheeler was working in his study. _That sounds like Regan _he thought, _I wonder what's wrong?_ Matthew knew Regan wouldn't normally come bursting into the house, yelling for him by his first name, unless something was wrong. One of the horses must be sick he thought, as he made his way out of his study.

"Regan, what's happened?" He asked the red headed groom, who was looking very anxious.

"Honey and Trixie went out riding on Lady and Susie, the horses have just come back on their own, there's no sign of the girls, and it's getting late, I'm going to go out looking for them." Regan replied.

"I'll come with you." Matthew replied

"Me too!" Shouted Jim, from the top of the stairs, he had heard Regan come into the house shouting, and realised something was wrong, "One of girls has probably fallen off, and they are walking back together, it won't take us long to find them."

"I hope your right son."

Matthew, Regan and Jim saddled up the remaining horses and headed out, each with a rifle and a torch.

"Do you know where they were headed?" Matthew asked Regan

"No, I didn't ask, damn it!" Regan very really swore, but he was feeling guilty, he should have asked them where they were headed, but he trusted the girls, they both had good seats on a horse, he had stopped asking them about their rides a long time ago. "I'll be making sure to ask from now on." He stated.

"Let's split up, we can cover more ground that way, if any of us finds them, use the rifle." Mr Wheeler said.

"I'll head towards Mr Maypenny's, they may have gone there if one of them is hurt." Jim said. "If they aren't there, I'm sure Dan will come out and help us look.

"Good idea." Said his father, "I'll head towards the bluffs, you go the other way Regan."

With a nod, the 3 men headed out in their separate directions, sure that they would find them, and that they would have some tail to tell of their adventure.

Jim arrived at Mr Maypenny's place, Dan had heard the approaching horse, he had come out of the cabin, not expected to see anyone out riding so late, he wondered who it was, when he saw Jim he called out. "Hey Jim, what brings you out this way this time of the night?"

"You haven't seen Honey or Trixie have you?" Jim asked, "They went out riding earlier, but the horses came back without them, Dad, Regan and I are out looking for them."

"No, I haven't, I'll saddle up Spartan and come with you, just let me grab a torch, I'll be right back." Dan hurried into the cabin and was back quickly.

The two boys headed out, calling as they went, "Honey, Trixie, can you hear me!"

Meanwhile Matthew Wheeler had arrived at the bluffs, he shone his torch around but couldn't see any sign of the girls, he had turned to head back, when he heard a soft groan coming from the other side of a large rock.

"Honey!" He cried, finding her lying on the ground, with dry blood on her forehead. "Honey, can you hear me?"

"Daddy? Where am I, what's happened?" Honey's spoke slowly.

"You've hurt yourself, can you sit up?" her father asked her.

Honey slowly sat up, her head was pounding, and her body ached from laying on the cold ground.

Mr Wheeler watched Honey carefully for any signs of broken bones, but she seemed to be moving ok, all be it very slowly.

"Honey, I'm going to fire my rifle to let Regan and Jim know I've found you, okay." Matt told his daughter before firing the gun. They heard answering replies from left and right of them, "they won't be far away now."

Honey had started to feel faint and dizzy, her head was pounding, and she couldn't think straight, she just wanted to sleep, and she lay back down.

"Honey, do you know where Trixie is?" Her father asked her.

"Trixie? No, should I?" She asked sleepily.

"Honey, you and Trixie were out riding together, the horses came back alone, I can't see Trixie around here anywhere, do you remember what happened?"

Honey felt confused, she didn't remember going out for a horse ride, she had no idea how she got there, or what had happened. "I don't remember Dad," she said, "last thing I remember is going to bed last night after the party."

Just then Jim and Dan came out of the woods, Jim jumped down from Jupiter when he saw Honey lying on the ground, with blood on her head. "Honey, what happened, are you alright? Has Trixie gone for help?" He asked her.

Honey shrugged her shoulders, crying, everyone talking to her was making her head pound more, she just wanted to sleep. "I don't remember Jim, I don't remember."

"Jim, you and Dan ride back to the house and call for an ambulance, that cut on her head doesn't look good, and she seems pretty confused, hopefully once the doctor has seen her she can tell us more." Matthew said.

"Trixie's probably back at the house by now, she would have gone for help." Dan replied.

"Let's go!" Jim shouted before re-mounting Jupiter and headed back towards Manor House, _I hope you're okay, Shamus, _he thought to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Note:- Still don't own the bobwhites … but if golden books would like to give them to me, I won't say No! I know some great fan fiction writers who could carry the series on

**CHAPTER 3**

Jim and Dan arrived back at Manor House and rushed inside, "Trixie, Trixie, are you here?" Jim called.

Ms Trask came down the stairs, "What's going on Jim, you, Regan and your father rode out of here in a hurry a couple of hours ago, what's going on?"

"Is Trixie here?" Jim asked her.

"No, she went riding with Honey a few hours ago, and I haven't seen them since, maybe they're at Crabapple Farm, although it's not like Honey to not call and let someone know." Ms Trask replied.

Jim and Dan looked at each other, both realised that even without a horse, Trixie should have been back at Manor House by now, something was wrong.

"I better call for help." Jim said grimly.

An hour later, Honey was being loaded into a waiting ambulance, with her Mother at her side, Mr Wheeler promised to follow shortly afterwards in his own car.

Sergeant Mollison was in the library with 5 other police officers, Trixie's parents and brothers, Regan, Dan, Mr Maypenny and Jim. He was organising a search parties for the woods surrounding Manor House, down towards the bluffs.

"What if she went over the bluff?" asked one of the officers.

Mrs Belden gasped, and turned very pale; her husband put his arms around her tightly.

"I had a look while we were there," replied Dan, "there was no sign of the bank giving way anywhere."

"How strong a swimmer is Trixie?" Sergeant Mollison asked. He knew what everyone was thinking, if she had gone over the bluffs into the Hudson River, things were not looking good.

"She's a reasonably good swimmer." Mr Belden replied quietly, "It's not the first time she's ended up in the river and made it out." He added, thinking about the time Thea Van Loon had sent Trixie and Honey into the Hudson River in the back of a car.

"I'll send some of these guys to search the river banks; she may have found a safe spot somewhere but can't get back up." He said hopefully, motioning to one his officers. "If she's out there, we'll find her."

They were organised into 5 search parties, each with a walkie talkie, even though it was late, sergeant Mollison had been able to organise a boat, to take one of the search parties along the Hudson River to search the banks, while everyone else was given sections of the preserve to search. "Stay with your teams, don't go wondering off, it's dark out there, we don't need two lost teenagers!" he said sternly looking at each and every Bobwhite in turn. He knew how close and how loyal these kids were to each other, but he didn't need the extra stress if one of them got lost or hurt as well.

"What did Honey say?" Mrs Belden asked again, hoping that maybe something different would come to light.

"Ms Wheeler most likely has concussion, she is very confused, and doesn't remember anything I'm afraid. I am going to the hospital once I've organised things here, hopefully I will be able to talk to her once the doctors have seen to her, I'll keep you all updated." The sergeant replied, feeling frustrated. "Right let's move out, it's dark, but fortunately its summer time, so the temperatures aren't too bad, Trixie's tough, a night in the dark won't bother her, but hopefully it won't come to that."

The 5 teams moved out into the night, each going to their assigned starting place, and methodically worked their way into the preserve, taking turns calling Trixie's name as they went.

By morning light they had pretty much covered all the preserve, and the boat had gone up and down the Hudson River several times, there was no sign of Trixie. Five dejected search teams arrived back at Manor House to regroup and have something to eat. Sergeant Mollinson met them there.

"Has Honey said anything yet?" Asked Mr Belden.

"I'm afraid Ms Wheelers condition hasn't changed from last night, she is still confused and very sleepy, the doctors have decided to give her a sedative and let her sleep, we are hopeful that once she recovers she will remember what happened out on the bluffs, but until then we can only keep searching. I have been in touch with search and rescue and they are sending two professional teams to help with the search, they will be arriving later today. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you." Sergeant Mollison replied sadly, although Trixie had been a thorn in his side, he still admired the spunky young blonde, and had hopes of working _with her_ in the future, once she had been trained properly.

A knock at the door had everyone looking around surprised, and then Celia led Paul Trent into the kitchen.

"Mr and Mrs Belden, I understand your daughter is missing, I have been sent by the Sleepyside sun to cover the story, so how does it feel knowing Trixie is out there somewhere, most likely seriously hurt and in trouble?" He asked. Paul Trent wasn't known for his tact.

"Why you…" Jim started to yell.

Sergeant Mollison put his hand on Jim's arm, "Mr Trent, If you will follow me into the library I will make a statement for you." He said, and he walked over and took Mr Trent by the arm, and dragged him out of the room before he was able to say anything else.

"My baby, my poor baby," sobbed Helen Belden in her husband's strong arms, "Where could she be?"


	4. Chapter 4

Note:- Nope they didn't give me the rights to the bobwhites, sorry guys!

**CHAPTER 4**

Wendell Mollison gave his statement to Paul Trent, and told him to leave Mr and Mrs Belden alone, and to not approach any of the Bobwhites, he didn't really think that Mr Trent would listen to him, but he wanted to warn him anyway. Wendell made sure Paul Trent understood that if he got in the way, or harassed any of them, he wouldn't hesitate to arrest him.

Paul reminded him that he had a job to do, and that he would do it to the best of his ability.

"Just stay out of the way!" growled the Sergeant.

When Sergeant Mollison returned to the kitchen everyone was waiting, they had finished eating, and were planning on heading out again soon. Wendell gave out maps of the area to the new officers, while sending the officers who had participated in last night's search home for some much needed rest, they hadn't found Trixie last night, but hopefully, now it was daytime, they would be able to see more clearly, and she would be found.

He tried to convince her family and friends to stay at the house and get some rest too, he wasn't surprised though, when they refused, and insisted on continuing to search.

"Ok, but if any of you get in the way, or start to lag behind, holding up the search, you will be sent back!" He told them forcefully.

"We won't Sergeant, Trixie's out there somewhere, we have to find her!" Jim spoke for all the Bobwhites.

After sending out the search parties, he returned to the hospital, he wanted to be present when Honey woke; hopefully she would be more aware of what was happening, and remember something.

"Mr Wheeler," he said, as he entered the room, "has there been any change?"

Matthew Wheeler shook his head sadly, she's still asleep, the sedative won't wear off for another couple of hours. Did the search teams find Trixie?" He asked, hoping that she had been found, and they had forgotten to inform them.

"No, I'm afraid not, I've organised for a couple of search and rescue teams to join the search, they will be arriving later today, I hope you don't mind, but they will most likely set up base at Manor House." Sergeant Mollison informed him.

"No that's fine, I just hope they find her before it's too late, I can't understand what could have happened to her, Trixie knows those woods." Mr Wheeler replied.

The three of them sat in silence for a while, Mr and Mrs Wheeler hoping that Honey would wake up soon, and be able to tell them where Trixie was, and the sergeant remembering all the times he had lectured Trixie after one of her cases, wishing he had told her just how much he admired her intuition, he could certainly use it now on this case!

Just then a young doctor came into the room to examine Honey and take her vitals. He introduced himself to Mr and Mrs Wheeler, telling them his name was Doctor Haines, after he had finished examining Honey, he asked Sergeant Mollison to follow him from the room.

"What is it doc?" he asked.

"We are treating Ms Wheelers head injury, but I may know how it happened." He said.

"How?" the Sergeant was getting excited, maybe this could be the clue they needed to find Trixie.

"She has a nasty bruise on her cheek, it looks like a handprint. I understand she wasn't out there alone, that another person is missing?" the doctor asked him.

"Yes that's right."

"Well, I'm thinking that maybe they had a fight, and when Ms Wheeler fell and struck her head, her companion may have thought she was dead and ran away." The Doctor told him.

"I can't imagine Trixie and Honey resorting to physical violence to solve a dispute Doctor, are you sure it's a handprint." The Sergeant queried the doctor's findings.

"Did you say Trixie?" the doctor asked, "the other missing person is another female?"

"Yes, that's correct; they were out for a horse ride, when the horses came back without them, a search party went out, only Honey was found."

"Well, they weren't alone out there!" replied the doctor.

"How do you know?" Sergeant Mollison asked.

"By the size of the handprint, it's too large to be another girls, I'd say it's from a young man, or a smallish gentleman, did either of the girls have boyfriends? Maybe it was a lover's tiff." The Doctor put forward his theory.

"Perhaps I should arrange for Ms Wheeler to have a sexual assault examination?" Doctor Haines asked sadly, it was part of his job that he despised.

Sergeant Mollison looked thoughtfully at the Doctor, "Thank you, this certainly changes things, I understand it was Mr Wheeler that found her, he never mentioned her being undressed, when she was changed into hospital garments, was there any mention of any other bruises?"

"I can check her records Sergeant, but I am guessing that if everyone thought it was just a simple fall from a horse, any extra bruising would be attributed to that, I'll get onto the rape kit immediately." Doctor Haines walked away sadly to make the arrangements, hoping that he was wrong.

Wendell headed back into Honey's room, he hoped Doctor Haines was wrong; it would be a parent's worst nightmare.

"Mr and Mrs Wheeler, we need to talk."


	5. Chapter 5

Trixie and her friends aren't mine ….

**CHAPTER 5**

Wendell Mollison made his way back to Manor House, he had gone out to the Bluffs where Honey Wheeler was found, he hadn't expected to find anything, too many people had been out there since Honey was found. If only they had realised things were more sinister than originally assumed.

He had spoken to Honey's parents before leaving the hospital, as far as they knew Honey and Trixie weren't actually involved with any boys, they had admitted that Honey was close to Brian Belden, and Jim had feelings for Trixie, they both assured him, that Jim had been home all afternoon, and they were adamant, neither boy would be responsible for what had happened, they insisted the sergeant look elsewhere.

The good news had been that Honey Wheeler had not been raped, the sexual assault examination had found no signs of intercourse, and she had no added bruises to her body, Mr and Mrs Wheeler's relief had been evident.

Sergeant Mollison had recalled the search teams, and he asked that Brian, Jim, Dan and Mart wait separately in the library, he wanted to talk to them one at a time, he didn't really think they had anything to do with Honey's assault and Trixie's disappearance but he needed to be sure.

Sergeant Mollison entered the study where Jim Frayne was waiting to be interviewed.

"Where were you yesterday afternoon while Honey and Trixie were out riding?"

"I was at home, in my room, reading." Jim answered puzzle at the sergeant's question.

"Can anyone vouch for you?"

"My parents were home, so was Ms Trask, Celia came in at one stage with my washing… why?"

"Jim, were you involved with Trixie Belden in a romantic relationship?" sergeant Mollison continued.

"I … what? NO!" Jim almost shouted. "Why are you asking me this? Shouldn't we be out there searching for Trixie?"

"I have good reason to believe that you have feelings for Ms Belden, did you go out to meet her, and things got out of hand, Honey and Trixie got hurt by accident, and you panicked" Wendell needed to be sure. "Do you know where Trixie is?"

Jim stood up, Wendell could see he was very angry, and was just holding on to his temper. "I DO NOT KNOW WHERE TRIXIE IS, I WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING TO HURT HER,OR HONEY! INSTEAD OF WASTING TIME SITTING HERE ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS, CAN WE PLEASE GET OUT THERE AND LOOK FOR HER!"

"Do you know of anyone else who may have had feelings for her?" Wendell continued, staying calm.

"WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME THESE QUESTIONS, HAS HONEY REMEMBERED SOMETHING, WHATS GOING ON?" Jim demanded.

"Just answer the question Mr Frayne." Wendell was staying professional.

Jim forced himself to calm down, yelling at the sergeant would get him nowhere. "Nick Roberts and Tad Webster have both like Trixie, I believe Tad asked her out, but she turned him down. Do you think he had something to do with this?" _If either of them had anything to do with it, I'll make them pay! _ Jim thought to himself.

"We have reason to believe, that there was another person out on the bluffs, a male." Wendell informed him.

"WHAT! WHO? HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS?" Jim was shouting again, if the girls weren't alone out there, who knows what could have happened to Trixie.

"Your sister has a handprint bruise on her cheek, it's too small to be Trixie's, the Doctor treating her, feels that it was a young male, or a small man that hit her, your parent's tell me she didn't have it when she left here yesterday afternoon."

"So it must have happened out there." Jim spoke quietly, his fear had intensified, _where was his special girl_.

"That was my conclusion as well. I went out to the bluffs today to look for evidence, but there's been too many people out there since Honey was found, any evidence has been compromised or destroyed." Wendell said.

"Has Honey said anything?" asked Jim, the fear he felt was evident in his voice.

"No, she's still asleep, the Doctors are going to keep her sedated today, and hopefully tomorrow she will wake up more coherent, and able to answer some questions." The sergeant informed him.

Jim was quiet, he hadn't gone to visit Honey, he knew their parents were with her, and he had wanted to concentrate on finding Trixie, "can I go now, I want to get back out there."

"The Search and Rescue team will be here shortly, they have more experience in these situations, please wait till after I have spoken to them, we will have a meeting with you all shortly afterwards, and decide what the next step is."

Sergeant Mollison left the room, leaving Jim sitting with his hands in his head.

After interviewing the other Bobwhite males, sergeant Mollison acknowledged they all had airtight alibis. Now he needed to talk to Trixie's parents, and ask to search her room for any clues. He already had permission to search Honey's, her parents had given it to him before he left the hospital.

Mr and Mrs Belden were shocked when they heard of Honey's injuries, and quickly gave their permission for the search, they were sure Trixie wouldn't have been involved with anyone, they knew about her feelings for Jim, but assured the sergeant that neither Jim nor Trixie, had taken it any further.

After Wendell left the room, Margaret Trask came in to see if there was anything she could do, Peter asked her to sit with Helen for a bit, and he went in search of the sergeant. "Tell me Wendell, what are the chances of finding Trixie alive?" Peter had to know.

"I can't answer that sorry, we don't have enough information, until Ms Wheeler can tell us what she remembers, we're taking stabs in the dark. I'm sorry." Wendell put his hand on Peter's arm, hoping to give him a small amount of comfort; he knew things didn't look good.


	6. Chapter 6

Just a reminder, I don't own Trixie Belden or any of the other characters mentioned in my story.

Chapter 6

Wendell Mollison made arrangements to search the girl's rooms for any evidence, he also asked 2 of his officer to go and visit Nick Roberts and Tad Webster.

In the meantime the Search and Rescue teams had arrived, Wendell and the team leader, Jake Summit, had a private meeting in the study, discussing the latest developments, and they decided on a course of action.

30 minutes later, Wendell called everyone into the library for an update, he wasn't looking forward to what he had to tell them.

"What's happened sergeant, when are we going back out to search?" Regan asked.

"We have had some new information come to light, and we need to share that with you, before we make it public." Wendell informed the gathered group.

"It would seem that Honey and Trixie were not alone at the Bluffs, Ms Wheeler has a handprint bruise on her left cheek, by the size of it, we have concluded that she was most likely struck by a male, causing her to fall and strike her head on the rock, at this stage we have 2 possible scenarios, Firstly, a lover's tiff gone wrong,"

"That's why you were questioning us; you thought we had something to do with this?" Dan asked, "None of us would do anything to hurt Honey or Trixie!"

"All your alibis have checked out, you're all in the clear, we will be talking to Tad Webster and Nick Roberts as well."

"You mentioned two possibilities sergeant, what's the other one?"

"That this is a revenge attack, the girl's through their _'investigating,'_ have put a lot of serious criminals behind bars, and one of them may be looking to get even." He informed the group. "I plan to check into the whereabouts of all the criminals that Honey and Trixie have dealt with in the past 3 years, and I will need the Bobwhites help, I don't have all the information from cases that were not in Sleepyside."

The bobwhites nodded their heads, they wouldn't hesitate to help.

"So what do we do now? Are you calling off the search?" Brian spoke up.

"Perhaps I can answer that," Jake Summit spoke up. "No, we are not calling the search off, my teams will be going into the preserve shortly to resume the search, I have also arranged for a dive squad to come and search the Hudson River."

"A dive squad? You think she's dead, don't you?" Brian asked quietly.

"NO!" Helen Belden cried, "Please No!"

"We need to check all possibilities, a thorough search of the river banks hasn't turned up anything, it is the next logical step." Jake continued.

"What if we don't find her?" Mart queried anxiously.

"Then we will have to assume that she is no longer in the preserve, hopefully Sergeant Mollison will have found some possible leads by then, once he starts going through the past cases he mentioned." Was the reply Jake gave.

"I need to call a press conference, and let everyone know the latest developments, maybe someone, somewhere will remember something that will help us to find her." Wendell informed the gathered group.

Jake Summit then took control of the meeting, "my teams are standing by, we will be heading into the preserve shortly to resume the search."

"What about the rest of us, if you think we are just going to sit around waiting you're mistaken." Jim said bluntly.

"Of course not, I will assign you to teams, I'm sure you all know this preserve very well, your experience will be useful." Jake acknowledged. "But, you will have to follow the direction of my men, they are trained in search and rescue."

Once everyone had agreed to follow the directions of the search and rescue teams, they headed outside to be sorted into groups.

Peter Belden was torn, he wanted to help in the search, but he realised it was time to let Bobby know what had happened, he had stayed at the Lynches overnight, and was most likely unaware his sister was missing. They had hoped that Trixie would have been found by now, and there would be no need to upset the younger boy.

"I need to go and see Bobby," he said simply, sadly.

Helen sniffed quietly, "Oh Peter, what are we going to do? Bobby adores Trixie, he's going to be so upset."

"We'll tell him what we know for sure, and keep things simple." He answered his wife.

20 minutes later the search and rescue teams had been sent out into the preserve, along with the bobwhites, Jake Summit turned to Wendell Mollison and said. "I've arranged for two Cadaver dogs to arrive tomorrow, along with two search and rescue dogs, we will need to keep everyone else out of the preserve while they are working, too many scents will hinder them."

"Thanks, I was sure we would have found her by now, wondering lost in the preserve, possibly injured, but alive, but with this new development, I'm not so sure, those boys know this preserve pretty well, and Mr Maypenny has lived on this land all his life, if they haven't found her by tomorrow, she's either not here, or something sinister has happened to her somewhere out there." Wendell said sadly.

"If that's the case, I hope my men find her first, that's something no family member or friend should ever have to see."


	7. Chapter 7

Trixie isn't mine, but I sure wish Jim was! Mmmhmmm.

**CHAPTER 7**

Peter and Helen Belden were sitting in the Lynches Lounge, they had informed them of Honey's attack and Trixie's disappearance, the Lynches promised to do all that they could to help both the Belden's and the Wheeler's. Di had been called in, and asked if she knew whether Trixie or Honey had been secretly involved with any boy's, she had been adamant they weren't.

Finally 8 year old Bobby was called to come into the lounge, he was surprised to see his parent's there, and he could see they had been crying.

Bobby crawled into his mother's lap and put his arms around her neck, while looking at his father with his big blue eyes, so much like Trixie's.

Mr Belden tried to swallow, the big lump that seemed to be permanently stuck in his throat made it difficult. "Bobby, there's something we need to tell you."

Bobbie's eyes were filling up with tears, he knew something bad had happened.

"Bobby, Trixie's missing, her and Honey went for a horse ride yesterday afternoon, and they never came back. Mr Wheeler found Honey hurt, and she is in the hospital, but there hasn't been any sign of Trixie." Mr Belden could feel the tears running down his cheeks, why did Trixie have to be such a mystery magnet, why couldn't she have chosen a safer career like bull fighting!

"Where's Mart and Brian?" Bobby asked.

"They're out looking for Trixie."

"I wanna holp look for Trixie too!" Bobby cried.

Helen tightened her arms around Bobby, the thought of him in the preserve terrified her, she had already lost one baby out there.

Meanwhile Brian and Jim were searching and calling Trixie's name over and over.

"C'mon Trix, answer me please!" Jim begged. "Where are you Shamus!"

Brian put his hand on Jim's arm, "she's strong, I'm sure she's okay, she has to be!"

"I wish Honey would wake up and tell us what she knows, oh why didn't I go out riding with them, I knew they were going, but I thought they wanted to be alone, you know girl time, this is all my fault!" Jim cried.

"Jim it's not your fault any more than its mine, I wish I had gone too." Brian told him.

"They were at my place, riding my horses; I should have taken more notice. If anything's happened to Trixie, I'll never forgive myself!"

"I knew they were planning on going for a ride, I could have asked to go along." Brian said stubbornly. "She's my sister!"

"I've lost everyone I've ever cared about, I can't lose Trixie too, I just can't!" Jim had fallen to his knees, tears falling freely down his face.

Brian felt helpless; he sat down next to his friend and put his arm around his shoulders, trying to comfort him.

_Where are you Trixie?_ he thought to himself.

Sergeant Mollison had called a press conference, informing the various newspapers and television news representatives present, that a young woman had been assaulted, and another was missing. Pictures of Honey and Trixie were given out to the different members of the press. As to what had happened to the two young women, there wasn't much they could say, because no one knew for sure, no one but Honey Wheeler, who was laying in a Hospital bed asleep.

Another day and night of fruitless searching passed, the bobwhites and their friends were exhausted; no one had slept for 2 days. The dogs arrived early the next morning, and again a meeting took place in the library at Manor House, Jake Summit insisted that no one but the dog handlers, be allowed into the woods, he didn't want to confuse the dogs with too many scents, or noises.

The boys were livid, they wanted to help search for Trixie, they knew the cadaver dogs were there to search for bodies, and that was something they weren't ready to accept yet. Jake finally agreed to let them participate in the search along the Hudson River, not with the diving of course, but patrolling the river, looking for signs of life.

After the teams had departed sergeant Mollison headed back to the station to go over more files, so far he hadn't had any luck, the criminals he had looked into were still behind bars. He had tried to contact an agent Ogilvie from the FBI regarding the case on the Mississippi, he wanted to know the whereabouts of Pierre Lontard, but he had yet to hear back from the agent. He looked at the stack of remaining files, and sighed, _those girls sure had been busy_ he thought to himself, before picking up another one.

Wendell was reading the file on Dick Ryks, the mysterious uninvited guest to Julianna's wedding, when the phone rang.

"Mollison." He said into the phone.

"Sergeant I have a Doctor Haines on the line for you, he's calling regarding Honey Wheeler, do you want me to put the call through?"

"Yes." Wendell spoke abruptly into the phone

The receptionist put the call through, and the voice of the young Doctor could be heard saying Hello.

"Doctor Haines, how can I help you?" Wendell asked the younger man.

"I'm just ringing to let you know Ms Wheeler is awake, and her memory is returning."


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for all your reviews so far, I hope you are enjoying my story, and it makes at least a little bit of sense.

Someone needs to write a story about fan fiction fanatics taking over random House and demanding Rights to Trixie Belden … but then writing fan fiction wouldn't be as much fun would it?

**CHAPTER 8**

Wendell Mollison rushed to Sleepyside Hospital; he hoped Honey would be able to shed some light on what had happened three days ago on the Bluffs.

He nodded at Mr and Mrs Wheeler as he came in the door, "has she said much?"

"A little bit, she remembers going out riding, we haven't questioned her too much like you asked." Mr Wheeler replied.

"Good, I don't want to put ideas into her head, she needs to remember what happened on her own." Wendell told them.

Honey who had been dozing, awoke to people talking, when she turned her head she saw sergeant Mollison standing next to her parents.

"Have you found Trixie yet?" She asked him.

"No we haven't, do you know where she might be?"

Honey shrugged looking dejected, we went for a horse ride out to the bluffs, we were sitting on our favourite rock enjoying the peace, then something happened, I can't remember what though." Honey said choking back tears. "They said I've been here 2 nights already, has Trixie been missing all that time?"

"Yes I'm afraid she has, we have search teams scouring the preserve looking for her, if she's there, they will find her." The sergeant told her comfortingly.

"What if she's not there?" Honey asked him.

"Then we need to start searching further." Was all he could tell her.

Honey was quiet, frustrated, Trixie needed her!

"Perhaps you could tell me what you do remember from the beginning?" Wendell suggested, hoping that once Honey started talking, something would come back to her.

"ok," Honey replied in a shaky voice. "I was riding Lady, and Trixie was on Susie, Susie's her favourite horse, even though technically she belongs to Ms Trask, Trixie rides her the most. We decided to go out to the Bluffs, it's so peaceful out there, and it's a good distance for exercising the horses, Regan always complains that we don't exercise them enough." Honey knew she was rambling, but talking was making her feel better, she felt like she was doing something.

"Go on," he told her. "What were you talking about?"

"The party, we were talking about the costume party I had the night before, it was an end of year party for all our friends, we had it at Manor House, and we were both saying how much we enjoyed it." Honey started crying, was the party going to be the last time she remembered having fun with her best friend?

"I hear it was a good party, Tad Webster and Nick Roberts had a lot of positive comments to make about it." Wendell threw Tad and Nick's names in to see if it jogged anything in Honey's memory, both boys had alibis, but it was his job to check.

Honey gave a small sad smile, remembering Tad's costume, "Yes they did, we all had fun."

Nothing thought Wendell, no reaction to their names, he was almost disappointed, not because he wanted or suspected the boys of any wrong doing, but because he was stumped, he had no clues and time was running out. Trixie had been missing for 2 full days now, if they didn't find her soon, it might be too late.

"Then what happened Ms Wheeler?" He questioned her further.

"Well, we got to the preserve, and tied the horses up, and went and sat on our favourite rock, it's a big one, right by the bluffs, it gives you a great view of the Hudson River, but it's far enough away to be private." Honey screwed her face up, trying to concentrate, something had happened after that, but she couldn't remember what.

Wendell could see she was struggling, he felt frustrated, he was sure the answer was locked away somewhere in Honey's mind, she just needed a little prodding to get it out.

"Were the two of you alone?" he asked her casually.

"Yes, it was just Trixie and me, Jim was busy in his room reading, besides we wanted some time …. " Honey stopped speaking, and looked at the sergeant shocked. "There were two men in ski masks, they had guns. One of them grabbed Trixie, and we tried to fight him off, but he hit me, and I fell, the next thing I knew Daddy was talking to me!" Honey's voice had grown excited, she was remembering.

Matthew and Madeleine gasped in shock, they knew about the bruise on Honey's cheek, and the suspicion that they weren't alone out there, but hearing from Honey just how serious it had been terrified them.

"How did you know they were males?"

"By their voices, they didn't sound like girls," Honey screwed her face up, trying to remember, "I think they were young men, they didn't have adult voices, yes, they were definitely younger, probably closer to Brian and Jim's age, or a little older."

"Did you recognise their voices?" He asked her, maybe they were about to make a break through.

"No, No I don't, I wish I did, but I don't, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Honey started sobbing.

"It's ok Honey, it's ok." Her mother quickly got up and put her arms around her. "Are you done sergeant?" she asked.

"Just one more question, do you remember anything they said?" he asked Honey, he could see she was upset, but he needed as much information as he could get.

"The taller one, I think he was in charge, pointed at Trixie and said to grab her, when the other one asked about me, he said they didn't need me, just Trixie!" Honey looked sergeant Mollison. "Why did they only need Trixie?" she asked.

"I wish I knew Honey, I wish I knew."


	9. Chapter 9

Daisyxduck walked into the library, and Jim Frayne took one look at the gorgeous sexy young woman and fell head over heels madly in love with her and proposed on the spot, of course Daisy accepted, and they lived happily ever after!

"Daisy, Daisy, wake up, you've fallen asleep at the computer again, what were you dreaming about?"

Daisy blushed furiously "nothing" she said, "nothing at all." And she started typing again.

**CHAPTER 9**

The boys were scanning the riverbanks, yelling for Trixie, they could see the diver's on the other boat going down over and over, each time one came up, they held their breaths, dreading what the message might be.

Suddenly, they saw the diver's being pulled aboard the boat, and the message came that they all needed to return to base, "What's happened?" they asked the search and rescue members on the boat they had been assigned too.

"I don't know, only that we need to return to base." He told them, turning the boat around.

They all looked at each other, they all shared the same thought, _I hope it's good news, and Trixie's been found._

When they arrived back at Manor House they were all ushered into the library, it had become the headquarters of the search.

Sergeant Mollison and Jake Summit were sitting together at one end of the room. "What's happened sergeant?" Brain queried.

"Take a seat, we're just waiting for everyone else, then we'll start."

Once everyone was seated, the sergeant started.

"We have two announcements to make, Ms Wheeler has woken up, and has been able to tell us what happened on Saturday out at the bluffs."

The excitement level in the room took a jump. "Does she know where Trixie is? What happened out there?" Questions were thrown at the two men.

"No, unfortunately she doesn't, but we now know that there were two males out on the bluffs with them, and that their intention was to abduct Trixie." The sergeant told them.

"Why did they want Trixie?" Peter Belden asked, "What else did Honey say?"

"I'm afraid she wasn't able to tell us much. But, we do have more information for you, we now have reason to believe that Trixie is no longer in the preserve." He announced. "One of the dogs was taken out to the bluffs and picked up a scent, they were able to track it back to a small side road at the end of Glen road, which is very rarely used, recent tyre tracks were noticed."

"Wait a minute, a dog tracked her? Was it a Cadaver dog?" Brian asked quietly.

"No, Brian, it wasn't, it was one of the search and rescue dogs that tracked her, we have good reason believe that Trixie was still alive when she got into the vehicle." Sergeant Mollison informed them. "The scene is being processed now, hopefully we will have more answers by the end of the week, but right now, we have to assume this is a kidnapping."

"Do we know who's got her? What's next? What are you doing to find her? Where do we start searching now?" Again the two men faced a barrage of questions.

"I am still sifting through files of Trixie's cases, I'm also waiting to hear from Agent Ogilvie, I haven't been able to find the whereabouts of Pierre Lontard, are you sure you gave me the correct name?" he asked the bobwhites.

"That's the name he gave Trixie and Honey, have you tried different spellings?" Jim replied.

"Yes I have, hopefully I will hear from Ogilvie soon."

Jake Summit now spoke up. "Given the new information, the decision has been made that the Search and Rescue Teams will continue to search the Hudson River until tomorrow night, and if no sign of Trixie is found they will pull out."

"You're giving up!" Was the combined reaction of the gathered group.

"I know this is hard for you all, but I am confident we have searched all the woods completely, we now need to focus on searching the river thoroughly, but so far there has been no indication that Trixie is anywhere near here. Given that we now suspect this is a kidnapping, a specialist abduction team will be taking over the investigation." He informed them.

"Well, until I know differently, I'm going to keep searching!" Jim angrily stated. "I'm not giving up on Trixie, she's tough, she won't give up, and neither will I!"

Everyone was silent, there wasn't much else to say, Trixie had been missing for almost 3 days, and no one had any idea who had taken her, or why.

"Well, I guess I had better head back to the station, I need to organise some officers to canvas the neighbourhood to see if anyone noticed anything, and arrange another press conference to let the media know about these new developments." The sergeant grimaced, he hated press conferences.

"Can you tell Paul Trent to leave us alone? He has been ringing every hour asking for new information, and demanding interviews, we've told him over and over that we have no comment to make, but he is relentless." Peter Belden asked the sergeant.

"I'll see what I can do", he said," but it may not be enough, no doubt he will claim 'freedom of the press' as his excuse."

The boys headed out to the stables, they decided that since they were now on their own, they would use the horses to search, that way they could cover more ground.

As Wendell Mollison climbed into his police car and drove away, he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, frustration was boiling inside him, no new information had come out of the last press conference, he hoped maybe they would get a lucky break this time, at least now they had a scene they could start from. Sleepyside was a small town, surely a strange car would attract some attention.

Jake Summit left the library and started out to re-organise his teams, he felt as if he had let Trixie's family and friends down, he had heard a lot about Trixie in the past couple of days, he had been amazed by all she had accomplished in her short life, and was sure that given the chance, she would make a fantastic detective, he just hoped she got that chance.

Mr and Mrs Belden headed home, they needed to pick up Bobby who was being looked after by Di at the Lynches, it was also time to ring extended family, that wasn't something they were looking forward too.

The staff at manor house all stood and looked at each other, all recalling their own favourite memory of Trixie. Disbelief and sadness, clearly showing on their faces.

(Daughterof8 I hope you enjoyed my little introduction! LOL)


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

Another night passed, and Trixie was still missing. Sergeant Mollison was in his office, going through more files, and he still hadn't found anything, the only good news had been a possible sighting of a vehicle, he had arranged an interview for later that morning.

He also had to go back to the hospital to talk to Honey again, he had forgotten to ask her what Trixie was wearing, precisely. Regan had seen the girls briefly before they had gone out for their ride, but he hadn't taken too much notice of what they had been wearing, he was a guy, not a fashion consultant, all he could be certain of was that she was wearing a pair of jeans, and a long sleeved top of some sort. Mollison shook his head, _he had forgotten to ask something so simple! _He knew why, this case was too close to home, and it was affecting him.

The phone in his office rang, and he picked it up wearily, hoping it wasn't Paul Trent _again, _he knew Trent had a job to do, but the man was so obnoxious, he had no respect for people's feelings. "Mollison" was all he said into the phone.

"Sergeant Mollison, John Ogilvie here, you left a message for me to call you."

"Chief Ogilvie thanks for ringing me back" Wendell sighed in relief, things were finally starting to happen.

"I'm guessing your ringing me about Beatrix Belden's kidnapping?" John asked him, "I've seen the coverage on the news, have you found her yet?"

"No, unfortunately we haven't, and we don't have any real leads either." Wendell informed him.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I was very impressed with Ms Belden when she was here, and I have followed her progress since, what can I do to help?" the Agent asked.

"Right now, I'm going through all the case files I have that involve her and Honey Wheeler, and trying to find a possible lead to someone they may have put away, so far though, I've had no luck. Everyone is accounted for. Everyone that is, except Pierre Lontard, I can't find any reference to him or his whereabouts, I was hoping you could provide me with those details." Wendell asked.

"Okay, give me a couple of minutes, do you mind holding the line?" John replied

"No problem."

Wendell continued flicking through the file he was now holding, Thea Van Loon. Wendell shuddered when he thought of what Trixie and Honey had endured at the hands of Ms Van Loon, she had tried to kill them once, and failed, would she try again? Wendell made a note to check on the whereabouts of Ms Van Loon.

"Are you there sergeant?" John Ogilvie's voice came through the phone.

"Yup"

"Mr Franceni is still incarcerated, he will be for a long time." John passed the information on.

"Franceni? That's why I couldn't track him down." Wendell stated matter of factly.

"Lontard was an alias. Sergeant, has a special abduction team gotten involved yet?" John asked him.

"One has been requested, but they haven't arrived yet." Wendell informed him.

"Right, well I will look into that, and get one there later today, you will be hearing from me soon." And with that John Ogilvie was gone.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Wendell had to smile, Trixie even had the FBI at her disposal. Not that it surprised him, not really, going through the old case files, had made him really appreciate just how gifted Trixie was, and he was annoyed with himself, he had at one time thought about offering self-defence classes at the high school, knowing that Trixie and Honey would have signed up, but he hadn't, he had decided self-defence training would only encourage her.

Wendell looked at the time, and realised the young man he would be interviewing, would be arriving shortly, he had been out for a run on Old Glen Road on Saturday night, and had information about a vehicle he had seen.

One hour later, Wendell was shaking the young man's hand as he left the police station, they had more information, but whether it would be helpful or not, remained to be seen. He had seen a 1960's dark green Chevy, a pretty common type of vehicle, he had also seen two young men sitting in the front, but they had driven past him pretty quickly, and he hadn't been able to describe them.

Wendell made his way to the hospital, Honey would be going home later today, or tomorrow, she was recovering well.

Wendell entered Honey's room and smiled at her, she was sitting up, looking much better than she had yesterday when he had seen her.

"Ms Wheeler, I hear you might be going home today?" He said to her

"I hope so Sergeant, I want to help look for Trixie." She replied, then she asked, "do you have any leads yet?"

Wendell knew Trixie and Honey were pretty loyal to each other, Honey would go out and help search, even if the doctor told her to go home and take it easy.

"I've just had an interview with a young man, he reported seeing a dark green Chevy out on Old Glen Road around about 7pm on Saturday, it would fit the time frame we are looking at." Wendell told her, he knew he should tell her family that information first, but he didn't think they would mind. "He saw two young men in the front seats, unfortunately he didn't recognise either of them."

"damn!" Was all Honey said.

"I need to ask you one more question, do you mind?"

"No, what do you want to know?" Honey answered him.

"Can you tell me exactly what Trixie was wearing, we need to be as precise as possible." He asked her.

"She had a pair of faded Levi jeans and the knees where ripped, a plain cobalt blue sweatshirt, and a pair of Rebok sneakers, they were pretty well worn, but they were her favourites." Honey told him.

"Thanks Miss Wheeler, I'll add that information to what we already have." Wendell said.

"Sergeant, how is the investigation going, have you found Trixie yet?" Mr and Mrs Wheeler had come back into Honey's room.

"No we haven't but we are starting to gather more information, I am going out the Manor House shortly to give everyone an update before letting the media know." Wendell answered them.

"We'll probably see you there, Honey has been discharged, we just need to gather her belongings and then we can go." Mr Wheeler told him.

"Finally!" Honey exclaimed.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

Sergeant Mollison arrived out at Manor House, and spoke to Jake Summit, they both agreed that while it was helpful to know the type of vehicle used, it would be very difficult to narrow it down.

Jake was slowly packing up their base of operation, no sign of Trixie had been found, and to be honest, he didn't expect to find anything, he was sure Trixie had been taken away, somewhere.

Both men knew the more time that went past, the less likely it was that she would be found alive, but neither of them wanted to voice that.

Shortly after Wendell arrived, Mr and Mrs Wheeler arrived home with Honey, Mrs Belden who was in the lounge with Margery Trask rushed out to give the younger girl a hug, sobbing.

"I'm so sorry Mrs Belden, I'm so sorry, I tried to help Trixie, I really did, but they were too strong for us, I wish there was more I could have done!" Honey was openly crying.

"Shush Honey, shush, it's okay, it's not your fault, I'm just glad you're okay." And Helen hugged her tighter to reassure her.

Madeleine Wheeler waited till Helen loosened her hold on Honey before throwing her arms around her friend. Madeleine and Helen had become friends through their daughters, Helen wasn't someone Madeleine would have normally spent a lot of time with in the past, before coming to Sleepyside, but now she truly appreciated the friendship they had, and she had grown to love Trixie as much as her own children.

"Where is everyone?" Honey asked.

"The boys, Peter, Regan and Tom are out in the preserve searching." Margery answered. "We can get hold of them on the walkies talkies and let them know you're here."

"That would be great," Honey replied, "I want to help with the search."

"Honey, the doctor said you needed to rest and take things easy, walking around in the woods isn't what he had in mind." Her father reminded her.

"I can't sit around doing nothing Daddy, I need to help! Trixie's my friend, my best friend, I need to do something!" Honey wailed.

"There's a lot of extra mouths to feed at the moment," Celia quickly spoke up, she wouldn't normally intrude in a family conversation, it wasn't her place, but these were difficult circumstances. "I've been helping cook in the kitchen, I'm sure your help would also be appreciated, until your feeling stronger."

"That's a great idea." Madeleine Wheeler thanked Celia.

Helen, noticing Wendell standing off to the side with Jake, acknowledged him with a question, "Do you have any more information sergeant?"

"Yes we do," he answered, and turned to Jake. "Do you want to call the searchers back in so we can have a meeting?"

"I'll get onto that straight away" he replied and went back into the library to use the base set.

It took 45 minutes for everyone to return to Manor House, in the meantime, Mr and Mrs Wheeler had been introduced to Jake Summit, they had spent most of their time at the Hospital with Honey and hadn't had a chance to meet everyone properly.

"We are pulling out tomorrow," he had told them, "you'll get the use of your house back."

"It's no problem Mr Summit, we appreciate the work you have done." Matthew replied.

Jim and Dan arrived back first, and Honey met them at the door.

"Honey!" Jim exclaimed, and gave her a big hug, "it's so good to see you, I'm sorry I didn't come to the hospital, I wanted to help search for Trixie."

"It's ok Jim, I understand, I would rather have been out looking for Trixie too!" she responded with a sob.

Jim released Honey from his hug and took her hand while walking towards the library, "Do you know why this meeting has been called?"

"Sergeant Mollison has new information", she told him," someone saw a car out on Old Glen Road on Saturday."

"Finally a lead! Hopefully it won't be long now before we find Trixie." Jim responded.

Once everyone had arrived and taken a seat in the library, sergeant Mollison told them about his interview with the young man.

Brian groaned loudly, "Just about every guy I know at college has an old 1960's chevy!"

"Did he get a number plate? Did he see Trixie in the car? What did they look like?" the barrage of questions started again.

"One at a time please!" Wendell reminded them. "No, he didn't get a number plate, he had no reason to be suspicious at the time, he only saw two young men in the front of the car, they drove past so quickly he only got a brief look at them, so he is unable to identify them."

Jim exploded "you called us back for this? I'm going to get back out there!" and he stood up.

"Wait a minute Jim, there's more I need to tell you." The sergeant called after him.

"What? It better be something good!" Jim snarled.

"Agent Ogilvie rung me this morning, he was able to look into the whereabouts of Pierre Lontard." Wendell told the assembled groupl

"Ogilvie? Isn't that the name of the FBI agent you dealt with in Missouri?" Matthew asked his daughter.

"Yes it is, Pierre Lontard was the man that kidnapped us." She replied

"Of course, I remember," Matthew turned to Wendell and asked, "What did he have to say, is this Lontard fellow tied up in this?"

"Pierre Lontard is still incarcerated, his name is actually Pierre Franceni, Lontard was an alias, that why I was having trouble tracking him down. Agent Ogilvie promised to get a Specialist Abduction team here as quickly as possible, he's been following Trixie's progress since Missouri and he wants to help out, with the FBI involved, it won't be long before we find her." Wendell hoped he was right.


	12. Chapter 12

Thank you everyone for your reviews, I hope you continue to enjoy my story, I have the basic outline in mind of how it's going to pan out, but filling in the details has been slow going.

Still don't own any of these characters.

**CHAPTER 12**

Wendell Mollison was back at the station again, he really should have been at home, it was his day off, but he couldn't relax, I felt for sure he was missing something, he just couldn't figure out what, he was going through more files, and again, kept hitting brick walls, _where's Trixie Belden when you need her _he thought to himself, she_ probably would have worked this out by now. _

A knock at his door, alerted his attention, "Yes Carrie, what is it?" he asked

"The specialist abduction team has arrived." She informed him.

It had only been 4 hours since he spoke with John Ogilvie, and they were here already, that was great news.

"Show them in please,"

A group of 3 men and 1 woman came into his office, Wendell stuck out his hand to the first gentleman and introduced himself. "Wendell Mollison."

The gentleman shook his hand, "John Ogilvie, FBI, and head of this special abduction team, now let's find Trixie Belden, show me everything you have so far, and don't leave anything out, even if it seems minor."

The relief Wendell felt was immeasurable, he was only a small town police officer, and he was struggling to get a handle on this case, he was happy to hand this investigation over to the more experienced man.

Wendell, John and the two other agents, Sam and Kelly, went over the information thoroughly, bit by bit, making comments and suggestions as they went.

"Right, we don't have a lot to work on, obviously", was Chief Ogilvie's initial reaction, "but I have some ideas, first of all, I want a list of all the people that Trixie has dealt with from your files, and then I want a list of every visitor, cell mate, and even prison acquaintance that these people have had since they were incarcerated, they may still be behind bars, but they could have an accomplice do the dirty work for them, Sam and Kelly, you get on to that immediately, and I want the list yesterday!"

"I'll organise an office for you to use." Wendell offered.

"I would prefer to be on site, do you think the Wheeler's or the Belden's would mind? I'm hoping the kidnappers will ring soon, and I would like to be present if possible." John informed him.

"I'm sure they won't mind at all, John," Wendell told him, "I'll give them a call and set something up."

30 minutes later, they had arrived at Crabapple Farm, Helen Belden had immediately given permission for their house to be used as the base of operations, and Chief Ogilvie would be staying with them, the other two agents, would be sleeping at Manor House.

"Mrs Belden," John Ogilvie put his hand out to take Helen's hand in his. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I wish it was under more pleasant circumstances."

"Thank you Chief, we really appreciate you coming to help us, if there's anything I can do let me know, just please find our little girl!" Helen implored him.

"I intend too." John said reassuringly, "these are Agents Sam Cameron and Kelly Wilson, they will be assisting me with this investigation, where can we set up? We will try not to intrude too much."

Helen lead the Agents to the family room and told them they could use it for their base, she also showed John the guest room that he would be staying in.

"If you need more space, we can move this furniture out to the garage, until Trixie come's home" Helen finished with a sob.

"Thank you Mrs Belden and I promise you, I will do everything I can to bring Trixie home."

John, Sam and Kelly started to arrange the furniture in the room so they could set up the equipment they would need during the investigation.

Wendell returned to Manor House, to let Jake Summit know the team had arrived, Jake would be leaving later that night, they hadn't found any sign of Trixie, but that hadn't been unexpected.

The message that the Specialist Abduction Team with Chief Ogilvie in charge, had arrived was relayed to the search teams, and they started to make their way back, they knew he would want to interview them before they left, not that they had much to tell, other than tracking Trixie's scent to the small side road. They were still waiting on forensics for more clues.

Honey, on hearing that Chief Ogilvie was heading the specialist Abduction Team wanted to head straight to Crabapple farm to talk to the chief, she knew he would have questions for her, and she wanted to do everything she could to find Trixie.

Slowly the afternoon drew to a close, Jim, Brian, Mart and Dan returned dejected and disheartened, and they decided to join Honey at Crabapple farm to speak to chief Ogilvie, hopefully the FBI agent had come up with some new ideas or clues to find Trixie.

In the family room at Crabapple farm, John and his two agents had been very busy, they were putting together a list of people to investigate, and John was ringing other agents and police stations that were close to these persons of interest asking them to investigate, things were starting to move along at a fast pace, John was sure it wouldn't be long before they found the lead they needed to find Trixie.

Helen Belden got to work in her kitchen, she hadn't been home, not properly for almost 5 days, she set about preparing a meal, it was good to finally be doing something normal, the familiar routine helped to calm her, working on auto pilot, her mind shut down, and the terrifying thoughts she had had about Trixie, and what was happening to her were finally quiet.

Helen was preparing hamburgers, her families favourite meal, when she realised she needed more breadcrumbs, she went to the bottom of the stairs and called out, "Trixie can you go to Mr Lytell's store to get some more breadcrumbs please, I've run out."

But there was no answer.


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you all for bearing with me, I promise I will get to what happened to Trixie shortly.

**CHAPTER 13**

John Ogilvie and his team had been up all night, going over the case files that Sergeant Mollison had given him, he had a theory, the kidnapping seemed to be directed at Trixie and Trixie alone, they hadn't wanted Honey. John been searching for cases that only had Trixie on the scene in the final showdown, and he had found a few, there had been Dick, the diamond thief, it had been Trixie that suspected him and caught in the act, then Tilney Britten, Diana Lynches phony uncle. But there had been one case in particular that really stood out, and he needed to speak to Jim Frayne.

"Right, I'm going to get straight to it, Jim I believe you and Trixie have a relationship of some sort?" John asked him.

"I've been over this with Mollison, why are you bringing it up again, I had nothing to do with this!" Jim stated firmly.

"I believe you Jim, I have a theory, but I need to establish a motive for someone else I have in mind, please tell me about you and Trixie."

"Yes, I care about her a lot, I gave her a bracelet with my name on it, about 3 years ago, but I've never done anything since, we were both too young, and Trixie felt embarrassed by the whole thing. I was hoping that maybe something might happen this summer, now that she is 16." Jim added sadly, wondering if he would ever get the chance now.

John nodded, "this bracelet, you said it had your name on it right?" John asked him. "Does she still wear it?"

"As far as I know, she stopped wearing it last year when I left for college." Jim replied, it had hurt knowing she wasn't wearing it anymore, but he had never talked to her about, now he wished he had.

"So she would have still been wearing the bracelet when Seth Jones and his Niece tried to steal your cousin's inheritance?" John probed.

Jim stiffened at the mention of his stepfather. "Yes she would have, what difference does it make?"

"Jim, I think that Seth Jones maybe behind this, he wanted your inheritance, but didn't get it because of Trixie, he tried to get Juliana's inheritance, but again Trixie thwarted his attempts, it maybe that he is getting even with _you_, by taking someone_ you_ care about. If his niece saw the bracelet on Trixie, and told her uncle about it, he would be aware of your feelings for Trixie." John stated calmly, on the inside however he was excited, it seemed like his theory could be correct.

"NO!" shouted Jim "IF HE HURTS HER IN ANYWAY I'll KILL HIM MYSELF!" and he slammed his fist down on the table.

In the kitchen everyone heard Jim yelling and came running to the family room, "What is it, do you know something?" Peter Belden asked.

Pain and terror were written all over Jim's face, he was flushed red, and everyone could see he was struggling to contain the Frayne temper.

"IT'S JONESY," he shouted, "THEY THINK JONESY'S BEHIND THIS!" Jim sat fell heavily into a chair in shock.

John Ogilvie repeated his theory, and Peter Belden spoke up. "It makes sense, what do you do now? Is he still in prison?"

"Yes he is, but he has had a few visitors, Sam and Kelly will be visiting the prison today to get a list of each and every visitor he has had, especially recently, and we will be pursuing this line of inquiry as quickly and as efficiently as we can. Don't worry, we'll find her!" John tried to reassure them.

The rest of the morning passed quickly, Sam and Kelly had left for the city to visit the prison where Jonesy was, and had gathered information about his visitors, they had already started interviewing the different people who had had contact with Seth Jones since his incarceration. John Ogilvie had spoken the warden in charge of the prison, and had arranged to interview Seth Jones himself later that afternoon.

Back at Crabapple farm, Jim was pacing, he felt guilty, this was all his fault, he had done this to Trixie, if only he had never tried to find his uncle 3 years ago, Trixie would be safe, he looked at the Belden's and wondered what they thought about him now. They probably hated him. Honey probably hated him, Trixie was her best friend. Jim had to get out of there.

Jim ran from the house, and didn't stop, he ran and ran until he came to Ten Acres, he cursed his uncle, if only he hadn't given up on living so quickly after his aunt had died, he could have helped his mother and him, and she would never have married Jonesy. Jim could have grown up here, in Sleepyside, without a care in the world.

Jim picked up a big branch that was laying on the ground and started pounding what was left of the building, over and over he pounded it, until exhaustion overcame him and he fell to the ground sobbing, remembering all that Jonesy had done to him, beating him, starving him, telling him he was no good.

Jim didn't know how long he lay there, until someone came and put their arms around him and held him, just rocking back and forth, over and over, it was soothing, and finally the sobs that were wracking his body slowly stopped.

Jim looked up, and was startled to see it was Peter Belden who was comforting him. He tried to pull away, confused and embarrassed, but Peter held on.

"Trixie loves you Jim, she has never been happier since you came into her life, she would never blame you for this, it isn't your fault, Jonesy is a sick man, nobody forced him to treat you the way he did, or seek revenge. They are choices he made, not you, you have nothing to be ashamed of. We'll get her back Jim, you'll see, we'll get her back!" Peter said comfortingly.

They sat there together for a while, two men, both thinking about the girl they loved, in different ways.

"Come back to the house, everyone's worried about you." Peter finally said to him, and Jim let Peter lead him back to Crabapple farm, leading him back to love and acceptance.


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 14 **

It had been 6 days since Trixie disappeared, the woods in the preserve had been searched, the Hudson River had been searched, without any trace of Trixie being found. The search and rescue team headed by Jake Summit had left the day before, Jake hadn't wanted to leave, the more he had heard about Trixie Belden the more impressed he had been with the spunky young blonde, and he would have liked to stay to the end, but John Ogilvie from the FBI and Specialist Abduction Team had arrived to take over the investigation into the disappearance of Beatrix Belden.

After the Search and Rescue team had left, the search of the preserve had wound down, even Jim had to admit Trixie wasn't anywhere in the woods surrounding Manor House, everyone wondered where she was, and was she alright.

Chief Ogilvie and his agents had developed the theory that Seth Jones was behind Trixie's abduction, and they had been thoroughly investigating that possibility. Sam and Kelly had spent all of the previous day tracking down Jonesy visitors, and had started to interview them.

They had had some trouble tracking down a few of them, and some of them were from out of the state, they had had to call in favours with other agents to have those avenues pursued. They needed to find Trixie quickly, time was running out. It had been 6 days already, if the kidnappers wanted a ransom, surely they would have contacted the Belden's by now.

If on the other hand they didn't want a ransom … then that was something they didn't want to think about, not yet.

John Ogilvie had interviewed Seth Jones himself. Seth had denied any knowledge of Trixie's abduction, but he had asked if he could shake the hand of the man who had masterminded it, if they ever found him. John Ogilvie had left the interview room sickened, Seth Jones was a nasty piece of work.

Wendell Mollison had checked in everyday, making sure that he was kept up to date on events, he wanted and needed to be a part of the investigation, he still felt like something had been missed, something important.

Jim, Honey and Di, arrived at Crabapple Farm early in the morning, wanting to be close by when news came, although their parents had insisted that they return home at night, after the events of last Saturday, they needed to have them close by, they needed to know they were safe.

Dan was also there, Mr Wheeler didn't want anyone out patrolling the preserve, not until they could be sure it was safe, Mrs Belden had invited him to stay, but he didn't want to leave Mr Maypenny on his own at night.

Regan, Tom and Celia dropped by from time to time throughout the day, wanting updates, they still need to work, but things were very relaxed at Manor House at the moment.

Bobby had returned home from the Lynches, he clung to his brothers, worrying every time they were out of his sight, that the bad men would come back and get them too.

Helen worked endlessly in the kitchen, baking, preparing meals, the freezer was overflowing, the shelves were stocked with preserves, yet she kept cooking, even late into the night, until she finally fell into bed exhausted, she found it was the only way to avoid the dreams that plagued her sleep, dreams of Trixie, and the terrible things that may be happening to her.

Peter Belden sat in the kitchen watching his wife work, he was lost without his princess, the house was quiet, too quiet. He missed her boundless energy, he missed the teasing banter between her and Mart, he even missed their fights.

Mart moped about the house, only speaking when spoken too, and in short sentences, his love of big words forgotten. He missed his _twin_, he wished he had told her more often how proud he was of her, and how much he admired her.

Brian, was the enigma, he carried on as if nothing had changed, as if Trixie was away on holiday, although he never spoke about her, never mentioned her name, never shed a tear.


	15. Chapter 15

I still don't own these characters, Random house does, well except for Sam Cameron and Kelly Wilson, they belong to me!

**CHAPTER 15**

On the morning of the 7th day, Jim and Honey were in the kitchen at Manor House waiting for cook to put together a picnic basket of food to take with them to Crabapple farm, Matthew and Madeleine had insisted on helping to feed the many people that were congregating at the farm, they heard the phone ring, and Celia answering it.

"Jim, the phone's for you, its Brian." Celia had come into the kitchen to find them.

Jim followed Celia out to the hallway phone, wondering why Brian was ringing, was it good news?

"Hi Brian, it's Jim here, what's up?" He said into the phone.

"Sergeant Mollison just rung, he will be here shortly, he has the forensic results back from the scene of Old Glen Road." Brian told him. "I thought you and Honey would want to be here."

"Thanks Brian, we'll be right there."

Jim put the phone down and turned around, Honey and his parents were standing in the hallway, waiting to hear what Brian had to say.

"Sergeant Mollison has the results from the scene, and he's bringing them out to the farm, we better hurry if we want to get there before him." Jim informed them.

"Has cook finished the picnic basket?" his mother asked him, not that it was important, it was just something to say.

"We can come back for it, I want to get going now, I don't want to miss anything. You coming Honey?" he asked his sister.

"Let's go." Was her reply.

After Jim and Honey had left, Madeleine returned to the lounge to go through her mail, trying to keep busy, and not thinking about the cheerful enthusiastic blonde who had crashed into their lives and enriched it so much.

Matthew Wheeler returned to his study to try and work, he was having a hard time concentrating, he had found himself thinking a lot about retiring lately, he wanted to be home with his family more, he didn't want to waste time working, when he could be spending time with those closest to him.

Half an hour later, the ringing of the phone interrupted his thoughts, "Wheeler" he said into the phone.

"Hello Matt," a voice Matthew Wheeler didn't recognise said, "you took something of mine, so I've taken something of yours."

"Who is this, and what game are you playing?" Matthew barked into the phone, the voice didn't even sound real, almost as if it was being distorted in some way.

"I have your daughter, and it's going to cost you 3 million dollars to get her back. I will ring you again in 2 days, to tell you where you can leave the money. No cops or you will never see Madeleine alive again." Then the phone went dead.

Matthew was stunned, fear was creeping through him, first Trixie, now Honey, he felt powerless, who was doing this and why. They must have been waiting, hidden in the trees on the path to Crabapple farm, and waited for Honey and Jim.

_JIM!_ Matthew stood up, Jim had been with Honey, the kidnapper never mentioned Jim, just Honey, where was Jim, was he laying hurt somewhere on the path.

Matthew Wheeler ran from the study, out the front door of Manor House, and headed along the path to Crabapple farm, never stopping, turning his head left and right, searching. Terror pulsing through his veins, wondering what he would find.

Matthew arrived at Crabapple farm, there had been no sign of Jim along the path, he burst through the backdoor into the kitchen.

Those who were in the kitchen at Crabapple farm, heard someone running across the yard, but before they could do anything, Matthew Wheeler had burst through the door breathing heavily with a terrified look on his face.

"Daddy! What's wrong, what's happened?" Honey was shocked to see her father.

Matthew looked at Honey, in disbelief, she was standing in the kitchen with Helen and Di, helping make biscuits, he crossed the floor quickly and took her in his arms hugging her tightly.

Agent Ogilvie and Wendell Mollison had heard Matthew Wheeler, and came into the kitchen, "what's going on Matt?"

Matthew was shaking, sobbing, Jim took his father's arm and helped him to a seat. "Dad?" he said quietly.

Matthew looked up at Wendell and shook his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you all panic, I just had a phone call, but I realise now it must have been a prank."

"What was the call about?" John asked him.

"It was a man's voice, at least I think it was, the voice sounded really weird, he said he had my daughter, he wanted 3 million dollars or he would kill her!" Matthew shuddered, remembering the fear he had felt.

The silence in the kitchen was deafening, everyone was looking at each other, wondering what kind of sick person would play such a nasty prank.

"OH NO! NO! NO! NO! " Honey shouted "they've got Trixie, they've got Trixie, and they think she's me!"


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

During the ensuing chaos, no one noticed Paul Trent running down the driveway, he had been hiding, listening in, hoping to get a scoop, and now he had one, he was already putting the story together in his head. He was sick of working in this small town where he got no recognition for his work, he would make sure to contact every major newspaper country wide, an abduction attempt on Matthew Wheeler's daughter would be big news, not like the kidnap of Trixie Belden, who was just a small town girl.

"Honey, what makes you think they've got you mixed up?" John asked.

"The party last weekend, we went as each other, I dyed my hair blonde, it wasn't a permanent, mother wouldn't let me, and Trixie did the same with her's, she had light brown hair, and she had straightened it! Even Jim got us mixed up from behind! Oh don't you see, I know I'm right!" Honey exclaimed.

"But it's been a week already," Brian spoke up, "wouldn't they have realised their mistake by now?"

"Maybe they haven't been watching the news!" Honey said, "I know I'm right, please Chief, please Sergeant Mollison, I'm right, I know I am."

"I'm sorry to say this, but Trixie's kidnapping hasn't been making major headlines since it happened, there's been small write up's after the press conferences, but nothing attention grabbing outside of this state, it is possible that they could have missed it, it's vitally important that we keep this under wraps." John Ogilvie informed them.

"Trixie would have told them she wasn't Honey, wouldn't she have?" Mart asked.

"Not if Trixie is a smart as I know she is." John replied.

"What do you mean Chief?" Helen Belden asked.

"Exposing their mistake would most likely put her life in danger; she wouldn't be worth anything to them." He explained. "I know she's worth every cent to you, but they choose Matthew because they know he can get his hands on the funds quickly. Also, it would put Honey in danger, they could have come after her," Chief Ogilvie turned to Honey and continued. "Think of all the times this week when you have been unprotected, even coming here today with Jim, you could have been attacked at any time along that path, even your father realised that."

Honey moaned and sat down, "We have to find her, please!"

"Mr Wheeler, I know you have security around your property, but I think it would be wise to beef it up. If honey is correct, and to honest, what she is saying makes sense, then she is in danger, i hope the kidnappers haven't realised their mistake yet."

John Ogilvie and Wendell Mollison were looking at each other, with similar expressions on their faces, _this could be the missing piece to the puzzle_.

"So you think Honey's right?" Dan asked.

"It's certainly a possibility, one we can't overlook now that it's been brought to our attention, Matthew if that phone call is to be taken seriously, then you are the target, I'm going to need details of all your business transactions, especially those that haven't gone smoothly. Can you think of anyone right now, that may have a grudge against you?" John questioned him.

"No, I can't, sorry, because of the shaky economic system I've taken over a few accommodation businesses lately, but they were all on friendly terms, well at least I thought so, they were family owned businesses that were struggling, and I brought them out, but I allowed the previous owners the option to stay on as managers." Matthew replied.

"did they all take up that option?" John asked him.

"No, not all of them did, some were glad to get out and were looking forward to trying new things." Matthew replied.

"Ok, I want a list of all the businesses you have taken over lately, but firstly provide me with the names of those that turned down your offer, they may not have been as happy as you thought they were." John told him, "And I want them ASAP!"

"We're also going to need to come over and tap your lines, we've done the Belden's, but yours haven't been done, I'm going to need to call in more agents, I don't want to remove Sam and Kelly from investigating the possible link to Seth Jones until we know for sure." John continued.

"That's no problem, whatever you need, just let us know." Matthew informed him.

"When did he say he would ring back?" Wendell asked.

"Two days." Matthew replied.

"Two days!" Peter shouted, "How am I supposed to raise 3 million dollars in 2 days? Crabapple farm isn't even worth that much!"

"There's my inheritance," Jim spoke up, "Dad invested it for me, it's worth more than half a million now, isn't it Dad?"

"That's a pretty expensive Bride-price, Jim." Mart tried to joke.

"Trixie's worth every cent and more!" Jim told him through narrowed eyes.

"Don't worry about the money Peter, I'll get it." Matthew told him.

"I can't let you do that Matthew, I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay you!" Peter told him sadly.

"If Honey's right, then it's the least I can do, they took Trixie instead of Honey."

"This is all my fault," Honey sobbed. "If only we hadn't dressed as each other, if only -"

"No, it's my fault," Matthew interrupted his daughter, "you heard Chief Ogilvie, I'm the target, I'm so sorry Peter, I'm so sorry Helen, this is all my- "

Helen Belden slammed a heavy skillet down on the table, causing everyone to stop talking immediately and stare at the normally mild mannered housewife.

"This is no one's fault! Do you think if Trixie was here she would be blaming any of you? Trixie love's you all. She told me on her 16th birthday how happy she was to have you all in her life, she said she wouldn't go back and change the past 3 years for all the money in the world. She appreciated all the experiences she has had because of you all. Please let's just concentrate on finding Trixie, not on blaming ourselves!"

Just then, Bobby Belden put his piggy bank on the table in front of his mother, "Moms can you break my piggy bank, I want to holp pay for Trixie too!"

There wasn't a dry eye at Crabapple Farm.

Meanwhile, chained to a bed, in the middle of a forest somewhere, Trixie Belden reflected on the past 7 days.


	17. Chapter 17

(Note:- Still don't own these characters, well except for the kidnappers, and who would want to claim ownership of them?)

**CHAPTER 17**

Trixie remembered hearing the horses and turning around to see what had upset them, that's when they saw the two men with guns ….

Trixie woke up in a small crapped space, she could hear the sound of an engine, and guessed she was in the boot of a car, her head was throbbing, most likely the after effects of the chloroform. She didn't know how long she had been there, or how far they had travelled, but listening carefully she couldn't hear any vehicles, so she guessed they weren't in a metropolitan area. _Mart would have liked that 'metropolitan'. _She thought to herself.

After a while things got very bumpy in the boot of the car, she guessed they were going off road, and she tried to cushion her head as best she could, worrying about banging it, suddenly she thought of Honey, and how she had fallen and hit her head on the rock, she remembered seeing the large cut and blood starting to run out, then she had had a rag shoved in front of her face. _I hope Honey is alright. _

Eventually the car had come to a stop, and Trixie tensed, hoping she would get a chance to escape her captors. The boot was popped open, and strong hands had grabbed her and lifted her out, dumping her on the ground, her body was aching from being cramped up, and she found she couldn't move as well as she would have liked. In the dim morning light, she could make out 3 men.

She was dragged to her feet, and ordered to walk, they headed into a wooded area, and started uphill, Trixie's found her legs were wobbly and she stumbled many times, before one of the men finally picked her up, threw her over his shoulder and carried her, until they reached a clearing where a rustic hunting cabin stood.

Trixie was taken into a small bedroom and dumped on the bed, then a chain was put around her wrist and the other end attached to the metal bed post of one of the two beds that were in the room. Trixie's head was still pounding from the effects of the chloroform, and she lay down and quickly fell asleep.

She awoke to voices, and she lay quietly and listened.

"Why don't we get her to cook, she may as well do something useful while she's here."

"Don't be daft, as if Miss Madeleine Wheeler would even know how to boil water, she's a spoilt brat!"

_They think I'm Honey! _Trixie realised, quickly followed by, _you'd be surprised by what Miss Madeleine Wheeler can do! _In spite of her fear, Trixie couldn't help smiling to herself.

"When are you going to make the call, Dad?"

"I told you already Brodin, in a weeks' time, we're just gonna hang out here, and let Matthew bloody Wheeler stew for a bit about his precious daughter, by the time I call him, he'll be so glad to hear anything he'll do whatever I ask." This was followed by a smirky laugh.

"I don't know about this Dad. It just doesn't feel right; maybe we should just let her go?" It was the one called Brodin, talking again.

_Brodin might be the weak link; maybe if I work on him, he'll let me go._

"We're all in this together boy, you're in up to your eyeballs, do you want to spend the rest of your life in prison? Just shut up and do what I say!" It was the father speaking again.

"I'll say! The way you hit that other girl! She went out like a light!" It was another voice speaking.

"I didn't mean to hit her that hard, Steve, it was an accident, I hope she's ok, we should have called someone to check on her!" Brodin exclaimed.

"And risk being caught! Geez Brodin, just relax, I'm sure someone would have found her eventually." Steve replied.

"I just don't know about this Dad, I got caught up in the excitement while you were planning it, but the reality is a lot different, what about that runner, he saw us in the car!" Brodin cried again.

"I doubt it, he had headphones on, he didn't hear us coming until we were just about on top of him, and then we were round the corner before he would have had a chance to note anything major, stop worrying like an old woman!" Steve told him.

"Besides, do you know how many 1960's Chevy's there are in this country? Hundreds if not thousands, and we've got an alibi; everyone knew we were coming out here hunting, and we left a few days before it happened, no one can place us anywhere near Sleepyside!" it was the father speaking again.

"That was pretty smart Dad, if they talk to Mom, she will tell them we've been up here for a few days, long before little Miss Pampered Princess was abducted!" Steve laughed.

"Matthew Wheeler is gonna pay for what he did to me!"

Trixie could hear movement in the other room, and she closed her eyes, and pretended to be asleep still, she didn't want them to know she had heard anything.

She couldn't help thinking about Honey, and the cut on her head, Trixie had seen it and the blood start running before they had drugged her. She knew honey had been knocked out by the blow. She was sure though, that Regan would have noticed they hadn't returned and gone looking for them, he probably would have gotten Jim to help him search.

_Jim! _Just thinking about Jim, gave Trixie goosebumps! She had always had special feelings for him, and she was sure he felt the same about her, well at least Honey said he did, but she had been too shy and embarrassed to admit how she felt.

Thinking about Jim, then lead to thinking about Brian her oldest brother, the two boys were best friends and roommates at NYU, if Regan and Jim hadn't found them quickly, they would have gotten the rest of the Bob-Whites to help.

Feeling assured as much as she could in the circumstances, Trixie turned her mind to her own situation, from what she had gathered, they thought she was Honey, _I had better not let them know their mistake, or they might try and go after Honey! _Trixie deliberately didn't think about what might happen to her, if they found out they had the wrong girl. The Dad had said he would make a phone call in a week, so she had 7 days to figure out an escape, from what she could remember they were in a forest somewhere, likely with no power or phone.

"Hey you, miss prissy, you awake yet?" it was the voice of Steve, and then someone started to shake and prod her. "Wake up!"

Trixie rolled over trying to pretend she had just woken up.

"Where am I? Who are you? What am I doing here?" She asked.

"Just shut up and do as you're told!" Steve growled at her.

Trixie wanted to get a 'lay of the land' so she needed to get out of this room to have a look around.

"I need to use the bathroom please?" she tried to ask in a posh voice.

Steve laughed, "There ain't no bathroom out here, just a long-drop, Careful you don't fall in!" he said as he unlocked the chain on her wrist and grabbed her arm. "It's this way."

"What you doing?" the father asked, as they walked through, what must have been the main room of the cabin.

"Taking Miss Prissy here to use the lavatory!" he said, barely containing his smirky grin.


	18. Chapter 18

Thank you all for your positive reviews, sorry it's taken me so long to post more to this story, I've had sick kids to look after, and then I got sick!

Still don't own any of these characters unfortunately, and I'm not making any monetary profit from this story, but the good reviews are profiting my ego! Lol.

**CHAPTER 18**

Trixie was taken outside to a small wooden structure, and shoved inside.

"There you go Miss Prissy, hurry up, I haven't got all day!" Steve growled at her.

From what Trixie had been able to see, she was in a wooden area, and the cabin was most likely a hunting cabin, _we could be miles from anywhere_! She thought to herself.

"Hurry up!" Steve was banging on the door.

Trixie came out of the toilet, _if you could call it that_, and she pretended to stumble, causing Steve to reach forward to try and catch her, Trixie shoved him hard while he was off balance, and started to run, hoping that she was heading in the right direction.

She could hear him pounding after her. She turned around to see how close he was, only to trip over a root, and Steve was able to catch up and grab her.

"Don't you try that again, or you'll be very sorry!" he grabbed her viciously and shook her. "We're almost 100 miles from the nearest city, and there are bears and mountain cats in these woods, you wouldn't stand a chance!"

"What's going on?" demanded a voice from behind them, Trixie turned to see the boy's father running after them.

"Miss Prissy tried to make a run for it!" Steve informed his father. "Stupid girl, next time I should just let her go, bet she couldn't outrun a bear!" he laughed.

"Get her back to the cabin, unfortunately we need her," the dad said, then added slyly "For now …"

Trixie was lead back to the cabin, and dragged back into the room where she was again chained to the bed. _Well at least I know how far the nearest city is now, _she thought to herself, _If I get away from … no, not if, __**when**__,… when I get away, I'm going to have to remember everything Jim taught me about survival in the woods! _Trixie lay on the bed and started to make plans.

A few hours later, a different boy came into the room with a plate of food for Trixie, it didn't look all that appetizing, but Trixie realised she was hungry, and she gave him a small smile of thanks.

"Why are you doing this?" Trixie asked him.

"Your Dad brought out our family business, the recession was hitting hard, Dad was sure we could ride it out, but his brothers got nervous and decided to sell, Dad tried to convince them not too, but they caved in and voted against him." He informed her. "They never had anything to do with the day to day running of the hotel, they were supposed to be silent partners."

"How is that my Dad's fault?" Asked Trixie, reminding herself they thought she was Honey.

"Well, he's the one that brought the company, if he hadn't come along, my uncles wouldn't have sold, and eventually they would have realised Dad was right, but instead they sold up, my grandparents opened it 50 years ago, and Dad had plans to bring it into the 21st century, now he won't get the chance, and he's out of work, my brother and I are in college, and if Dad doesn't find a job soon, we'll have to leave, he's just trying to take care of his family." He answered her.

Trixie couldn't help but feel sorry for the family, her Dad, being bank manager, had told them that a lot of people were struggling and losing their livelihoods, she knew how difficult he had found it whenever he was forced to foreclose on someone.

"I'm sorry." She whispered in reply, "My Dad might not have realised that your Dad was against the sale? If he had known I'm sure he wouldn't have gone ahead with it." Trixie stated, she remembered when Mr Wheeler had brought Mead's Mountain with Peter Kimble's Dad, although the Bob-Whites hadn't been privy to all the details, she knew that both men had been very fair in their dealings.

"He knew alright, he had to have, and the price he paid was pathetic, we didn't get what the hotel was worth." He responded angrily.

Trixie could see that he was getting upset, and decided it was time to change the subject.

"So, you know my name, what's yours?" she asked him in a friendly tone.

"Brodin, Brodin Tuck." he replied.

"Where are we, I know we are in a forest somewhere?" Trixie continued.

"This hunting cabin belongs to my Dad and some friends, we booked it for 2 weeks, so no one else will be coming up here time anytime soon." Brodin answered.

"You're going to keep me here that long?" Trixie asked surprised.

"No, we came up here a few days before we grabbed you, it's our alibi, everyone knew we were going hunting for a couple of weeks."

"Oh, very clever!" Trixie exclaimed, wanting to encourage Brodin to keep talking.

"Yeah it was Dad's idea, and we're nowhere near Sleepyside." He told her. "Dad's going to call your Dad in a week, and ask for a ransom, then once that's paid, he'll let you go."

"Oh, that will be good!" Trixie said, trying to sound enthusiastic, "How much is he going to ask for me?"

"A couple of million I guess, he said anything more and it would take too long for your Dad to get it, and the greater the likelihood the police will find us." Brodin answered.

"Your Dad's very smart!" Trixie said, hoping she sounded genuine.


	19. Chapter 19

**I don't own these characters, except for the baddies! Don't know if there is a hotel called 'Tuck Inn' if there is, this is your bit of free advertising, you may use my slogan if you want. **

**I have quoted from some of the original Trixie Belden books, especially books one and two. **

**CHAPTER 19**

The next couple of days, pretty much continued in the same way, Trixie was kept chained in the room, fortunately for Trixie though, the chain was long enough to allow her to move about the room, she had always been someone who needed to move, '_Miss Fidget' _Regan had called her, with good reason.

Trixie hadn't had another opportunity to try and get away, either the dad, or Steve were always present, and she knew they would be pretty ruthless with her if she tried anything, they never left Brodin alone with her, Trixie guessed that was because they also knew he was the 'weak link' and they didn't trust him.

It was either Steve or Brodin who brought her meals, usually Steve just dumped and ran, but Brodin would stay and talk, she learnt a lot from him, he was studying business management at college, he had hoped to take over the family hotel, "Tuck Inn". They had a few laughs over that, coming up with some slogans, such as '_Let us TUCK you INN'._

Brodin often talked about what he was going to do when it was all over, he was looking forward to getting back to college in the spring, he missed his friends, and he missed college life, the freedom to be his own person, he felt pressured by his father and his older brother to live up to their expectations.

In the evening on the third day of her captivity, Brodin asked her what she planned on doing once she left high school, Trixie almost told him all about the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency, her and Honey hoped to open when they had graduated from college … almost … but she had managed to stop herself, just in time.

Trixie tried to think, what would an heiress want to do with her life, Honey and Di weren't 'normal' examples of what rich girls did when they grew up, both wanted careers, and they wanted to look after themselves, not rely on their parents for support.

"Miss Prissy, won't be planning on doing anything useful with her life, no doubt she will be just like all the other socialites that get into trouble and wait for daddy to bail them out. Spoilt little rich kids." It was Steve standing in the doorway. "You've been in here long enough Brodin, Dad's going out hunting again, you need to bring in some wood for the fire." And with that Steve turned and walked away.

Brodin gave Trixie a small smile and got up, "I better go, I hope you have a good sleep Madeleine." He said quietly as he left the room.

Trixie felt restless, and she was worried, Brodin had said that his dad, Joel, was going to let her go once they had the ransom money, but Trixie wasn't so sure, Joel had let Brodin spend a lot of time with her, letting him tell her all about them and their lives, it didn't make sense that he would just let her go, when she could identify them all, she had seen him watching her sometimes through the doorway, leering at her. Something wasn't right, she was sure about it.

Trixie's thoughts turned to her family, her parents, and three brothers, she missed them terribly, even Mart, her almost twin, she thought about the fun they had together, with the Bob-Whites, how close they all were, how much she appreciated them all, _when I get home, I am going to make sure they all know just how much I love them!_ She thought to herself.

She lay down on the bed, forcing herself to think of the happy times she had had with her family and friends, she ran through them in her mind, first there was meeting Honey.

_"I'm Trixie Belden, my kid brother and I live in the hollow in that little white frame house - Crabapple farm."_

_ "How do you do? My name is Honey - Honey Wheeler."_

Trixie remembered feeling foolish and disappointed, Honey had been wearing a dress with stockings and sandals, and she had thought Honey was stuck-up, and wouldn't be any fun at all, boy was she glad she was wrong!

Soon after meeting Honey, they had met Jim, Trixie blushed remembering the first time she had ever laid eyes on Jim Frayne.

_He had been asleep on a mattress, Trixie had tried to creep closer quietly, but she had knocked over a stack of books and he had woken up and pointed a gun at her head._

"_What are you doing here? You have no business in this house." He had said to her._

"_Neither have you. This place belongs to Mr. James Winthrop Frayne, our neighbour, my father took him to the hospital this morning. We were just checking to be sure all the doors and windows were locked. But you, seem to have moved right in." Trixie had answered him tartly._

Who would have thought, that they would have become such good friends, when Jim had run away again, she and Honey had tracked him down.

_"Jim, Jim! It's Honey and Trixie." She had managed to call out to him._

_Jim had grinned broadly when he first saw them, "Well, I never! You two tracked me down in less than a week, you sleuths you! It sure is good to see you girls again-"_

Trixie had been so excited and thrilled at seeing Jim again, she had felt like laughing and crying at the same time. Everything had worked out perfectly perfect, Honey's parents had arrived along with Mr Rainsford, and they had decided to adopt Jim, Trixie's life had changed for the better from that moment on.

_Sometimes dreams do come true!_ She had thought to herself.


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER 20**

Trixie awoke the next morning to the sounds of arguing.

"Brodin, enough already! We are not letting her go! We've gone too far now to back out! Do you want to give up college?" Joel Tuck was yelling at his son.

"But Dad, this isn't her fault, she has nothing to do with her father's business dealings, she's just a kid!" Brodin was trying to reason with his Dad

Trixie heard a loud thump, and then Brodin crying out "Owww!"

"Let that be a lesson to you!" his father shouted angrily, then Trixie heard a door slam.

She lay on the bed quietly, not wanting to call attention to herself, she knew someone was still in the other room, but she wasn't sure if it was Brodin or his Dad, and facing Joel Tuck who was obviously in a bad mood, wasn't high on her 'to-do' list for the day.

She felt grateful to Brodin for trying to help her, she was actually starting to enjoy his company, and that made her feel guilty, and confused.

The door to the room slowly opened and Brodin walked in, Trixie could see the starting of a bruise on his cheek, and it looked a bit swollen.

"You're awake," he said, "Do you need to use the toilet?"

"Yes please," Trixie replied, trying not to stare at his face.

Brodin took her out to the long-drop, Trixie could see Steve close by chopping wood, she knew he would be keeping a close watch on both her and Brodin, disappointed, she realised there would be no chance for escaping again.

Once she was back in the room, Brodin brought her breakfast, cereal and milk, she knew the milk came from milk powder from the taste, it wasn't very pleasant but she was hungry. Brodin sat quietly watching her.

"I'm really sorry about all of this Madeleine," he said, "I wish I had never let them talk me into it."

Trixie just gave him a small smile, while she finished her breakfast.

"I'd better get on with the chores, Steve's cut a lot of wood, I better bring it in." Brodin smiled at her as he took her dishes and left the room.

Trixie sat on the bed, emotions welling up in her, she felt the tears running down her cheeks, Trixie hated crying, she hated feeling vulnerable, she hated feeling trapped and caged, she hated **THIS!**

After a few minutes of crying, Trixie started feeling angry, _stay positive Trix! _she mentally berated herself; _you're not a cry baby! That's one of the things Jim likes about you! Don't give up now!_

Thinking about Jim, helped Trixie to calm her emotions, he always had that effect on her, _well, except for when he was lecturing her_, Trixie laughed to herself, _at least this time he can't blame me!_

Trixie got up and paced about the room, she needed a weapon, something to protect herself with, but they never brought knifes with her meals, and they would notice if she didn't give one back anyway, she needed something heavy, something she could use to whack someone on the head with, but the room was sparsely furnished, just the two beds and a small bedside cabinet. Trixie sat down on the bed frustrated, she knew it was only a matter of time before they found out she wasn't who they thought she was, and then who knew what would happen, she needed to be prepared. But how?

Later that evening when Brodin brought her meal, they sat and talked some more, Trixie asked questions about where they were, she was able to find out that they were about 100miles east of New York city, Trixie knew the sun came up in the east and set in the west, so now she knew what direction to head in when she got away.

As the days wore on, nothing had changed, she still hadn't managed to escape, and Trixie found herself worrying more and more about what would happen when Joel Tuck found he had kidnapped the wrong girl.

On the sixth day of her captivity, Trixie waited impatiently for Brodin to bring her breakfast, she hadn't slept much the night before and she was feeling restless, and lonely, she couldn't wait for Brodin to come in.

_What's wrong with me?_ She wondered to herself, _how can I enjoy his company when he kidnapped me! _

Brodin had been nice to her, he had talked with her, and had made the whole situation more bearable, she realised that Brodin had been bullied by his father and brother to go along with their plan to kidnap 'Honey', Joel Tuck was a harsh man, who ruled by his fists, and Trixie had heard Brodin on the receiving end a few times, he was now sporting a black eye along with his bruised cheek. Steve wasn't much better than his father, and Trixie felt sorry for Brodin. _When I get out of here, I'll make sure they know he wasn't to blame. _Trixie thought to herself.

Brodin came into the room moments later with her breakfast, again cereal and lumpy powdered milk, Trixie wondered if she would ever be able to drink milk again when she got home.

Brodin handed her her breakfast and sat down to wait while she ate.

"This should all be over soon" he said to her quietly. "I hope we can still be friends once you return home, I've really enjoyed talking with you, you aren't at all how I imagined you would be."

"I hope so too." Trixie replied, not wanting to risk antagonising him, although she knew there was no way they could be friends, her parents, not to mention Jim and the rest of the Bob-Whites would never allow it.

Once Trixie had finished eating, Brodin took her out to use the long-drop and then brought her back to the room again, leaving her there while he went to bring in more wood.

_I have to get out of here! I have to do something! There's no way my parents can afford to pay that ransom, _Trixie thought to herself, _and when Mr Tuck finds out he won't be getting any money for me he is going to be very angry!_ Trixie could feel the fear creeping over her.

_I have to think positively_, she told herself over and over, the police will find me, they're probably already in the woods surrounding the cabin, just waiting for the chance to storm in and release me!

It was fortunate that Trixie didn't know the police were still searching for leads to the criminals Trixie and Honey had put behind bars.

It was fortunate that Trixie didn't know the FBI and Chief Ogilvie were searching for clues that would lead them to Jim's Stepfather,

It was fortunate that Trixie didn't know that they weren't searching for anyone connected to Matthew Wheeler.


	21. Chapter 21

**Thank you for your reviews, I truly appreciate them, I know how I want this story to go, but am unsure if it is making any sense, so it's great to get the positive feedback. **

**Still don't own any of these characters, although I am working on owning Jim (my husband may not be happy about 'sharing!' though)**

**CHAPTER 21**

Today was D-day, the day Joel Tuck would ring her 'father' and ask for a ransom. Would Mr Wheeler tell him he had made a mistake, that he had the wrong girl, and tell him to ring her real parents. What would Mr Tuck do when that happened?

Fear washed over her. _I need to get away! _She said to herself, frustrated that she hadn't managed to do so already. They had never left her alone while unchained, and there had always been two of them present. While Trixie was no longer afraid of Brodin, his father and brother were a different matter, she didn't trust them to just let her go when it was all over.

Trixie hadn't slept much the night before, and when she had, her dreams had been fill of memories, things that she had done with the Bob-Whites, there was the spelunking adventure, finding Janie, and then realising that she was in fact Juliana, Jim's long lost cousin. Her dreams had even included the last sleepover the Bob-Whites had had at Crabapple farm, only a couple of months ago. Mart had played a trick on her and Honey.

Trixie smiled and laughed quietly remembering what had happened. Mart had unscrewed and removed one of her bed legs, he knew Trixie and Honey had planned on top and tailing in her bed that night, as they had done many times in the past, leaving the other twin bed in the room for Di to use, so of course he hadn't done the same to that bed.

Trixie and Honey had tried to climb into the bed, only to find themselves dumped unceremoniously on the floor moments later, when the bed had tipped to the side because of the missing leg. Hearing the loud THUMP! followed by the girls shrieks, Brian Jim and Dan had come running into Trixie's room wondering what was wrong, Mart had followed at a more sedate pace, with a big grin on his face, while twirling the missing bed leg in his hand. Dan realising what Mart had done, had tried vainly to keep a straight face.

Trixie and Honey had been angry at first, but once the initial shock had worn off, they had ended up rolling on the floor laughing in tears, promising '_saccharine sweet revenge'_! Ever the gentlemen, Brian and Jim had come to the girls rescue, replacing the missing bed leg, and had wished the girls a good night, while promising to help them get even during the summer holidays, and now here she was stuck in the middle of goodness knows where. Trixie vowed that she would get her _'saccharine sweet revenge'_ on her brother as soon as she got home!

A sudden realisation came to Trixie, while the bed she had been chained to was metal, the other bed in the room was not, if she could remove the bed leg, she could use that to hit someone hard.

Trixie was excited, but it was still dark, moving the bed would make a noise alerting the Tuck family to what she was doing, she was going to have to wait until they had gotten up. She also needed to work out how she was going to remove the leg without anyone noticing it was gone, Brodin often sat on the bed while he was in the room talking with her, and while Trixie felt he was on her side, she couldn't see him fighting off his father and his brother on her behalf.

As light slowly starting peeping through the bedroom window, Trixie heard noises coming from the main part of the cabin, the Tuck's were getting up, and soon Mr Tuck would leave to make his phone call. Trixie realised that her best chance of escape would be while Mr Tuck was away making the call, leaving Steve and Brodin with her. If she could get Steve to take her to the toilet, then she could use the bed leg on him, and get away, she was sure that Brodin wouldn't try to hurt her, at least she _hoped_ he wouldn't.

The door to her room opened and Steve came in, "Come on Miss Prissy, time to visit the throne!" he said to her with a smirk.

Trixie panicked, usually she had breakfast first, then they took her to the toilet she hadn't had time to remove the bed leg yet! "I don't need to go just yet, can I have breakfast first please?" she asked him.

"Nope, not today, Dad's leaving soon to ring your father, and I've got things to do this morning, so it's now or never, hurry up!" Steve replied as he pulled her from the bed roughly, and unlocked the chain around her wrist.

_NOW WHAT?_ Trixie's mind was screaming at her over and over, as Steve dragged her through the cabin and out to the long drop.

Trixie could hear Joel and Steve talking outside the long-drop while they waited for her.

"What time are you leaving Dad?" Steve asked his father.

"Shortly, I want to use the payphone outside that little hick store a few miles up the road, before it open's, no chance of being seen. " Joel replied.

"Why don't you just use your car phone?" Steve asked him, "Then you can be sure no one will see you."

"I don't want the call traced back to my phone you idiot!" his father yelled at him.

"Sorry Dad" Steve mumbled in reply before banging on the door of the long-drop yelling "Hurry up!"

Trixie heard something drop to the floor, looking down she realised Steve's banging had forced a loose nail to fall out of the door, and she picked it up, hoping it would come in handy for something.

Trixie exited the long-drop and looked around, _**darnit!**_ She thought to herself, Mr Tuck was close-by watching them, she knew, even if she got away from Steve, she wouldn't get away from his Dad, she would have to wait, and hope she got another chance, and she let Steve lead her back into the room.

Shortly afterwards Brodin came into the room with Trixie's breakfast, and smiled tentatively at her, Trixie smiled back, he was a nice boy, and good looking too, but he didn't make her heart race, not like Jim did.

"Dad just left to call your father." He told her.

**(Thanks for reading my chapter and please feel free to review!)**


	22. Chapter 22

**Please note I don't own any of these characters except the baddies, and if anyone knows a Joel, Steve, or Brodin Tuck, I am sure that they are nothing like the characters in my story who only share the same name. **

**Once again thank you all so much for you reviews, they are most encouraging! **

**I do run my chapters through spell check, but as I don't have anyone to check my grammar for me, please excuse any mistakes.**

**CHAPTER 22**

Trixie gave herself a mental shake, time for reflection was over, 7 days had passed and Joel Tuck was ringing Mr Wheeler at that very moment, and she had no idea what Mr Wheeler would say to Mr Tuck about her, she needed to act, and act quickly.

Trixie opened the door into the main cabin, wanting to check where Brodin and his brother were, fortunately they weren't in sight, she didn't want to risk them hearing her moving the bed to unscrew the leg.

She stretched out on the floor, fortunately the chain allowed her some lee-way, but not enough, she was only able to use one arm on the bed leg, and had to support the weight of the bed on her back as she worked. She had decided to take a leg from the bottom of the bed closest to the wall, hoping that it would be less noticeable a leg was missing with the wall to support any tilting. While lying stretched out, Trixie could feel something poking her into her leg, she reached down into her pocket wondering what it was, until she removed the nail she had picked up earlier, she had forgotten about that.

Trixie pondered what she could do with the nail, then an idea came to her, she could use it to leave a message on one of the wooden boards in the room, if she didn't make it out of this, at least there would be something left behind that would alert authorities that she had been there. Trixie stretched out her arm again, and scratched her name into the bottom board, knowing that the bed would hide it from the Tuck's, but anyone searching this room, would find it.

She stood up with the leg in her hand, now she needed to get Steve into the room, if she could just knock him out long enough to escape.

Opening the door to the room again she yelled out. "Steve! Hey! Steve!"

"Everything alright Madeleine?" Brodin had been the one that opened the main cabin door, and poked his head inside.

"I … ah … I need to go to the bathroom again, I was wondering if Steve could take me please?" Trixie asked quietly.

"I'll take you." Brodin replied.

Trixie started, she didn't want to hurt Brodin.

"What's up with Miss Prissy?" Came Steve's voice from behind his brother.

"She needs to use the loo." Brodin answered him.

"I took her not so long ago, she can wait till we're done, we need to get this pig skinned before Dad gets back or he'll have both our hides, and I for one am looking forward to some pork chops tonight, get a move on Bro." With that Steve dragged Brodin back out of the cabin.

Trixie sat down, angry and frustrated. _Damn that Steve! _ She thought to herself, _I finally come up with a plan and he ruins it! I'm just gonna have to be patient and hope I get another chance before Joel gets back. _She gave herself a wry smile, she wasn't known for her patience.

Unfortunately, Steve and Brodin didn't finish skinning the wild boar, before their father returned, and Trixie heard them talking outside the cabin.

"How'd it go, Dad?" Steve had asked.

Trixie stiffened, and gripped the bed leg tighter, waiting for her fate.

"All good! Matthew Bloody Wheeler didn't know what hit him! He obviously wasn't expecting a ransom call, he probably suspected she was already dead, with it being so long since we grabbed her, hope he suffered just as I suffered!" Came the snarky reply of Joel Tuck.

Sitting alone in the bedroom Trixie relaxed, she had more time to get away, more time to plan. _Thank you Mr Wheeler! _She cried silently in her head.

"Let's get this pig chopped up, I'm looking forward to a real feed tonight!" Joel said to his boy's.

"We've almost finished skinning it, I'm going to take Madeleine to the loo now," Brodin said.

"Thought you took her before breakfast?" Joel asked.

"Yeah I did, but she needs to go again apparently" Steve had replied.

"Annoying wench!" Joel said sharply, "Hurry up then boy, get on with it!"

Brodin came into the cabin and saw Trixie standing by the door, she had quickly hidden the bed leg under the pillow in her room, there was no way she was going to attempt escape with Mr Tuck and Steve both outside at the same time.

"Come on Madeleine, I'll unlock you and take out to the long-drop. You'll be going home soon." He told her.

"Do you really believe your dad will let me go?" Trixie couldn't help asking him.

"He said he would, why?" Brodin replied.

"I just hope your right." Trixie replied while allowing Brodin to unlock her chains and lead her out to the long-drop.

As they went passed Mr Tuck, he called out to her causing her to turn his way, he looked at her with a nasty grin on his face, and plunged the knife he was holding down into the dead boar.

Trixie felt nauseated, but she was not going to give Mr Tuck the satisfaction of knowing his actions had affected her in any way.

"What did my Dad say, Mr Tuck" she asked him looking him straight in the eye.

"Nothing much." He grunted, obviously displeased that she hadn't squealed or fainted like he had hoped.

"Did … did he say anything about Trixie?" she asked him.

Mr Tuck just ignored her and carried on carving up the wild boar.

"Who's Trixie?" Brodin asked her.

"My .. My friend, the one that was with me, out on the bluffs." Trixie replied.

"Never mentioned her, maybe she's still out there." Mr Tuck had interjected, followed by a nasty laugh.

Trixie allowed Brodin to lead her to the long-drop, all the while praying that Joel Tuck was wrong, and Honey was safe.

**-00—00—00—00—00—**

**Thank you for reading this chapter, please review, positive criticism is always welcome. **


	23. Chapter 23

**Again, still don't own anything, any names or places mentioned in my story other than those known to the Trixie Belden franchise are made up and should not be taken seriously. **

**I know this story is dragging on a bit, hopefully things will start happening soon, I would like to take this opportunity thank all those that have saved my story as a favourite and have been following it faithfully, I hope you continue to enjoy it to the end. **

**CHAPTER 23**

Meanwhile back in Sleepyside …

John Ogilvie had sent Matthew Wheeler home, he wanted a list of names as soon as possible, so they could get started investigating immediately. He had rung the bureau and requested more staff, the Director had been excited at the new possible development, and had agreed to John's request, He had completely agreed with John's decision to keep this new development out of the media for the time being.

John Ogilvie also made arrangements to have more equipment sent, they needed to set up a base at the Wheeler's Mansion, the phone lines at Manor House hadn't been tapped yet, so they hadn't been able to trace the call to Mr Wheeler, and he was annoyed because of the missed opportunity.

In fact John Ogilvie was annoyed with himself for not seeing this possibility himself, if Honey was correct, they had wasted 7 days looking in the wrong places, and he shuddered to think what could have been happening to Trixie Belden during that time.

Wendell Mollison's feelings were pretty much on par with the FBI Agent's, he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of a possible mistaken identity, he had known something was different about Honey when he had questioned her in the hospital, but he put it down to what she had been through, totally overlooking her changed appearance. He cursed the amount of time he spent checking through old files, when he could have been questioning Matthew Wheeler, and his recent business dealings. Wendell knew he would never forgive himself, if something bad happened to Trixie, because he had failed.

2 hours later, Matthew Wheeler was back at Crabapple Farm he had been in contact with his Lawyer's and had come up with a list of names from recent acquisitions.

Luke Smith, Westerners Tavern. Luke Smith had been reluctant to sell, and had been quite vocal in his dislike of Matthew Wheeler, but had in the end sold his business, declined the Manager's position, and had gone to work for his brother.

Nigel and Kenneth Stuart, Stuart's Holiday Retreat. Nigel Stuart had been glad to sell out, he knew business had taken a downturn and things had become difficult financially, he had accepted Matthew Wheelers offer of remaining on to manage the Holiday Resort, but his son, Kenneth, had not been so happy, and had accused Matthew Wheeler of taking advantage of the current economic crisis, and taking over small businesses that had a lot of potential for the future, once the economy turned around.

Adam, Timothy and Joel Tuck, Tuck Inn. Joel Tuck had been the manager, while his two younger brothers were silent partners, Joel had mortgaged the Inn to the hilt, wanting to upgrade the facilities to cater for a more up market clientele, but then the current economic crisis had hit, and they had started losing business, and were not able to make the heavy mortgage repayments, Adam and Timothy had outvoted their older brother, forcing the sale of the family Inn. Matthew had offered Joel the Manager's position, telling him he agreed with what he had been trying to achieve and now he would be able to carry out his plans with Matthew Wheeler's backing. Joel had turned down the offer, saying he was looking forward to finding less stressful employment.

Logan Marshall, Marshall's Ski Resort. Logan Marshall had realised his business was in serious trouble, and had taken the initiative to contact Matthew Wheeler himself, he had readily sold the Ski Resort to Matthew, and taken the Manager's Position when Matthew had offered it to him.

Four new team members had arrived with the equipment necessary to set up a base at the Wheeler's Mansion, once this had been done, John sent two of them, Cathy Merrit, and Eddie Carr out to start the investigation into Luke Smith, while the remaining members Jay Samuels and Sonja Jenkins stayed to operate the new base. John would remain at Crabapple Farm, in case the kidnappers realised their mistake, and tried to contact the Belden's directly. Although John thought it very unlikely they would make contact with Peter or Helen, he wanted to stay close to Trixie's parents, he felt that he had let them down enough.

Sam and Kelly were contacted and asked for an update into the possible Seth Jones connection, they reported that so far no leads had turned up, and they only had one more person to interview. John brought them up to date with recent developments, and told them that if nothing came out of the last interview, he wanted them to start looking into the Stuart's, starting with the son, Kenneth, as he had been opposed in the Stuart's Holiday Resort buy out.

Now all they could do was sit back and wait, and hope that something happened, that a new connection was found.

Yes John Ogilvie had been very busy, but so had Paul Trent. He had written his article, highlighting the kidnapper's mistake in grabbing the wrong girl. He had contacted as many newspaper giants and reporters as he could, faxing them his article, supplying photos of Madeleine/Honey Wheeler and Trixie Belden. He sat back satisfied with himself, dreaming about the recognition he would receive.

He imagined the Wheeler's and the Belden's grovelling at his feet, thanking him for his story, oh yes, he was sure that once the kidnapper's realised their mistake they would just let Trixie go, he had suggested as much to kidnapper's in his article, Paul Trent would be a hero after this. He would have his pick of job offers, and get out of this small town moving on to bigger and better things, he was sure of it.

When the phone rung at Manor House, Celia answered it, the person on the line identified himself as a reporter from the New York Times and asked to speak to Matthew Wheeler. Celia informed Matthew that he had a phone call.

At the same time, the occupants at Crabapple farm, noticed a strange car coming up the driveway, and went out to meet the new visitor, she identified herself as Sarah Bishop a reporter from the New York Daily News, she wanted to know, _had Trixie Belden been abducted in place of Honey Wheeler?_

John Ogilvie took control of the interview, he wanted to know where she got her story and from whom.

Helen Belden started to cry, no one was supposed to know about this, John had said if the information got out, Trixie's life could be in danger, she wondered how this reporter had found out. The Bob-Whites who were still at Crabapple Farm, looked at each other, fear clearly showing on their faces.

Once Matthew Wheeler had gotten over his initial shock, he had started barking questions down the phone, asking how this reporter had come by his information, but before the reporter could answer, Jay Samuels had taken the phone from Matthew Wheeler.

Sarah Bishop was ordered not to report the story, that it would be putting a young girl's life in danger. Sarah informed him that the fax she had received had gone out to all the major newspaper's nationwide, as well as News Stations, she wondered if there would be any way they could shut them all up in such a short period of time, as some of the less scrupulous ones had most likely already gone to print.

John Ogilvie picked up the phone and rung Wendell Mollison. "We have a problem!"

**All reviews welcomed! **


	24. Chapter 24

**Thanks for the reviews! Glad your all enjoying my story, here's the next chapter!**

**CHAPTER 24**

Later that night, Chief Ogilvie was compiling the data he had receive that day from his agents, Sam and Kelly had all but eliminated Seth Jones from having any involvement in Trixie's abduction, and had started to investigate Kenneth Stuart. While Cathy and Eddy had already met up with Luke Smith, and were now questioning those closely associated with him. So far nothing positive had come to light, but it was only the first day.

Helen, Peter, Brian and Mart were in the kitchen. Helen was baking again, as she had for the past week, ever since Trixie had disappeared, Peter sat watching her, waiting until she was tired enough to fall asleep, while Brian and Mart played cards talking quietly to themselves. They all turned towards the back door when they heard a car pull up outside.

"Come in Wendell." Peter spoke softly to the sergeant when he opened the door. John Ogilvie came into the kitchen, and they all sat down around the table, waiting to hear what Wendell had to say.

"Have you spoken to him?" John asked him.

"Yes, he is now in custody." Wendell Mollison replied.

"Thank goodness!" Was the collective sigh of relief from those sitting around the Belden table.

"How did he find out? I know that no one here would have told him." John asked.

Wendell Mollison gladly told them what had happened when he had gone to _'visit'_ Paul Trent after the chief Ogilvie's phone call.

**-00—00—00—00—**

"How can I help you sergeant?" asked Paul Trent with a smirky grin.

"How did you find out Trent, how did you know about the mistaken identity aspect of this investigation?" Mollison asked the cocky reporter.

"I was outside the Belden kitchen when Matthew Wheeler came barging in, I heard everything! You and that so called FBI Agent messed up this investigation, fortunately when the kidnappers read my article that meddlesome little detective will be returned and I will move on to better things, whereas you'll always be a small town cop!" Paul had said to him unable to stop his lecherous grinning.

"Is that right Trent? Have you any idea what you've done? You have put Trixie and Honey in grave danger! Do you really think the kidnappers are going to just let Miss Belden go, when they realise their mistake? You don't think they might decide to _'dispose of the evidence?_' Can you really be that stupid!" Sergeant Mollison had almost yelled at him.

Paul Trent stopped grinning for a moment … he hadn't thought of that possibility.

"Paul Trent you are under arrest!" Sergeant Mollison declared and continued to read him his rights.

"What, you can't arrest me! I have freedom of the press! You wait till your superiors hear about this Mollison, you're through!" Paul Trent screamed at him.

"I'm arresting you for trespassing Mr Trent, the Belden's had specifically asked you to leave them alone, you had no right being on their property without an express invitation." Wendell informed him rather smugly. "Don't worry, I'll make sure all you're _'contacts'_ are aware of the situation"

"You can't do that! No one will hire me!" Paul Trent's voice was wavering now, and he wasn't feeling so cocky.

"True, none of the more reputable Newspapers will want a bar of you after this, but I'm sure you'll find some sleaze bag operation that will suit you somewhere, hopefully far away from Sleepyside!" with that, sergeant Mollison had handcuffed Paul Trent and lead him away, he was determined to make sure Paul spent more than one night behind bars, and he was sure John Ogilvie would help make sure that happened.

**-00—00—00—00—**

Back in the forest somewhere …

Trixie had had a long day, all three of the Tucks had remained at the cabin since Mr Tuck's return, her frustration was overwhelming, but she was managing to keep it in check … barely. She had hidden the leg under the bed she was sleeping on, hoping that none of the Tuck's would have reason to look under there. When Brodin had come in with her dinner, and sat on the bed opposite, Trixie had held her breath hoping the bed wouldn't give way, alerting them to what she had done. She had been relieved when it hadn't.

"What are you most looking forward too, when you get home Madeleine?" Brodin asked her.

"Seeing my family and friends!" Trixie had replied straight away. "And telling them how much I missed them, and love them!"

Brodin smiled at her, "I've missed my Mom and friends too, but I'm also looking forward to a hot shower and TV, I loved coming out here as a kid, but 2 weeks is a long time to go without the basics such as electricity!"

"Gleeps! Yes! A hot shower would be nice!" Trixie had almost shouted.

Brodin had left shortly afterwards and Trixie had lain down on the bed, letting her mind wander, she had found thinking about happy events from the past, as well as imagining future conversations, helped her to stay positive and focused. She was a survivor, she would be going home!

_Jim pulled a little package from his pocket. "It's for you, Trixie," he said. "I got it in Valley Park yesterday."_

_Trixie opened the box. She stared at the dainty silver identification bracelet that nestled there. "It has your name on it, Jim," she said, and smiled shyly at him. "Put it on for me, will you?"_

"_You know what it means, don't you?" Jim asked._

"_Tell me," Trixie answered._

"_It means that you're my special girl, Trixie," Jim said. "As if you didn't know that already."_

"_I do," Trixie murmured. "Oh, Jim!"_

Trixie sighed wearily and started to fall asleep, her last conscious thought was, _it's time to ask Jim just what he meant, when he said I was his 'special girl'._

**-00—00—00—00—**

Sleepyside the next day …

Wendell Mollison arrived early at Crabapple Farm, his arms were fill of newspapers, all with a similar headline.

_**BLOTCHED ABDUCTION ATTEMPT SEE'S WRONG GIRL KIDNAPPED!**_

The article included pictures of Trixie Belden and Madeleine Wheeler smiling happily, without a care in the world.

**-00—00—00—00—**

Trixie woke up to Joel Tuck yelling again.

"You idiot! You've spilt the rest of the Milk powder! Damn you Brodin!" This was followed by loud thumping noises, and Trixie knew Joel Tuck was beating Brodin again.

"Steve!" He had shouted, once he had finished _dealing_ with Brodin. "You're gonna have to head up to that Hick store and get some more supplies!"

"Ah… right Dad." Steve answered uncertainly. "I thought we were supposed to be hanging low though?"

"Yeah, well thanks to your idiot Brother, we now need more milk powder, I need milk in my coffee! While you're there, grab a newspaper, we're gonna be 3 million dollars richer soon, I wanna see what's happening in the business world, decide where I am going to invest my hard earned dollars!" he laughed crudely.

**-00—00—00—00—**

**As always, all reviews are welcome! Thanks!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Thanks for your reviews, they are very encouraging! **

**Usual disclaimer about the characters in my story, and I'm still not making any money from this work of literary art! **

**CHAPTER 25**

Sleepyside …

"Damn Trent!" Mollison exclaimed. "Just about every paper is running this story, and there's been news broadcasts on local channels! Is there anything you can do Chief?"

"I've been in contact with the director, and the short answer is No, since the less reputable papers and stations are running the story, there was no point in trying to silence the more reputable ones. We just have to hope that whoever has Trixie, either misses this, or makes contact so we can assure them they will receive their money." Was John Ogilvie's reply.

There was a commotion by the door, John and Wendell turned to see Jim, Dan, and Honey arrive.

"Have you seen this?" Jim shouted, throwing a paper down on the kitchen table, "I would love to get my hands on that weasel!"

"Stand in line, Jim!" Mart replied, while Brian looked on nodding. "Trent's lucky he's behind bars!"

"I understand how you feel, I really do, but getting yourselves arrested for assault right now won't help matters, we need to concentrate on finding Trixie." John Ogilvie stated. "And, I don't think she'd be very happy about visiting you in jail when she gets home."

The boys couldn't help but laugh, all be it, quietly, they all had their own visions of what Trixie would do or say in those circumstances.

"So now what?" Peter Belden asked, "Is there anything we can do?"

"I'm afraid not, at the moment it's just a waiting game, Cathy and Eddy should have some more feedback for me soon, it seems Luke Smith has been wallowing in self-pity since the takeover, and doesn't have a sound alibi for the night Trixie was taken, while Sam and Kelly are meeting up with Kenneth Stuart later this morning. Hopefully one of them will turn up something soon; otherwise all we can do is wait for the kidnappers to contact us." John told the assembled group.

"They said 2 days, right?" Dan said, "That would be tomorrow?"

"That's right." Wendell answered him. "Matthew got the call early yesterday morning, so hopefully they will ring early tomorrow morning, giving us more to go on."

"The phone lines are tapped, Luke is going to go over the game plan with Matthew, and I'll do the same with you Peter," John Ogilvie had nodded at Peter Belden, "We need to keep them on the line as long as possible, the longer we keep them talking the closer we can pinpoint their location. I want you to ask to speak to Trixie, but don't ask her anything that would identify the kidnappers, or if she knows where she is, it will only antagonise them."

"Right, I'll do my best." Peter answered sadly.

"I'm sure you will, and I'll be right here with you the whole time, listening in, everything's going to be okay, we'll get Trixie home." John told him reassuringly.

The room was silent, each hoping and praying John Ogilvie was right, that Trixie would be home soon.

"The Pancakes are ready." Helen Belden spoke quietly into the silence.

**-00—00—00—00—**

In the forest ….

Trixie checked her watch and decided to wait 30 minutes before asking Mr Tuck to take her to the toilet, that would give her time to retrieve the bed leg, as well as make sure Steve was far enough away to not hear any yelling. She felt nervous, and excited at the same time, hoping that her plan would work, and she would get away.

30 minutes later, Trixie stuffed the bed leg up the sleeve of her sweatshirt, and held her arm close to her body, she then opened the door to the main cabin, and looked around, she couldn't see any sign of Mr Tuck or Brodin anywhere in the cabin.

"Hello, is anyone there?" Trixie called out.

Joel Tuck, opened the outside door to the cabin and poked his head inside. "Whaddaya want?" He asked, glaring at her.

"I need to use the bathroom, please" Trixie asked him, she didn't really like the boy's father taking her to use the long-drop, she didn't like the way he touch her or looked at her, but hopefully this would be the last time.

Mr Tuck walked across the room, picked up a bucket, and threw it at her, "use this, you can empty it later, I'm busy, we need to restock the woodpile for the next group of hunters that comes out here." He said, before turning his back on her, and walking towards the cabin door.

Trixie's frustration boiled over. "You're not really going to let me go, are you?" she asked him.

"Guess you'll just have to wait and see." He sneered at her. "You know what the funny thing is? With you gone, the only person he has left, is the brat he adopted, not even his own flesh and blood, I was going to take him at first, you know the first born heir, until I found out he was adopted, I bet daddy wouldn't miss him as much as he misses his little princess!"

"You're wrong, Jim is loved, and he is the best big brother a girl could have, and M… and Dad loves him just as much as me! He won't have any problems leaving the business to Jim!" Trixie yelled back at him, trying to stay in character.

"Well, once we're done here, I'll have to pay _Mr Frayne_ a visit then." He sniggered.

"You leave Jim alone, don't you dare touch him, or I'll … I'll" Trixie started.

"You'll what?" Joel Tuck sniggered at her, mocking her, "come on, what will _you_ do?"

Trixie spluttered and stammered, but was unable to get any words out, her anger, and fear for Jim rendering her speechless.

With that Joel Tuck walked out of the cabin laughing.

Trixie sat on the bed, shaking. _ I knew he wasn't going to let me go, and now he'll go after Jim too, oh why did I have to lose my temper! I have to get out of here. No matter what, the next time I get out of this room, and out of these chains I am going to put my plan into action._

Meanwhile, Steve arrived at the little general store, and went inside to make a few purchases, he placed his items on the counter, and the old man that was serving him, started to place them in a shopping bag adding them up as he went, Steve threw some money on the counter, and waited for the old man to work out his change.

"Oh!" He said, "I need a paper too," remembering his Dad's request, and he picked one up off the closest newspaper stand, idly glancing at the main headline.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

**If you have enjoyed this chapter, please review, and even if you haven't enjoyed it, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Don't own any of these characters, and I'm not making any money, I'm still as poor as a church mouse. **

**CHAPTER 26**

One and a half hours later, Trixie was still waiting for Joel, or Brodin to come back into the cabin, she felt surprisingly calm. She just hoped she had the courage, and the strength to go through with her plan, it would mean hurting someone, something she had never done before.

Just then Trixie heard movement in the main cabin; she took a deep breath to calm her sudden nerves, and stood up to open the door.

"Can you please take me to the toilet now?" She asked Joel Tuck in a friendly manner.

"Did you use the bucket I gave you?" He asked her crudely.

"No, I didn't." She answered him.

Joel laughed, "Daddies Pampered Princess never used a bucket before?" He jeered. "Come on then." And he started to make his way over to Trixie, when Steve stormed in the door.

"Dad you've got to read this!" He shouted, shoving the newspaper he was carrying in his father's face. "She's not Madeleine Wheeler!"

"What are you talking about?" his father said, grabbing the paper and staring at the main headline.

**KIDNAPPERS GRAB WRONG GIRL! **

Brodin peered over his father's shoulder at the newspaper, "What does it say?" he asked.

His father started to read.

"In a case of mistaken identity, 16 year old Beatrix Belden was abducted in place of her best friend, Madeleine Wheeler, only daughter of Matthew and Madeleine Wheeler of Wheeler Incorporated. Trixie and Honey, as they prefer to be called, are well known in the Sleepyside community as amateur detectives, and this initially misled police into investigating previous criminals the girls had been involved with, instead of business associates of Matthew Wheeler."

"Is this true?" Joel Tuck shouted at Trixie.

"Just look at the pictures Dad, even though its black and white, their faces are completely different, this one is definitely the Belden girl." Steve replied before Trixie had a chance.

"How could you have made such a stupid mistake?" he screamed at his sons.

"Read on, they went to a costume party the night before, _dressed as each other_, you told us Madeleine Wheeler had light brown straight hair", Steve pointed at Trixie, "when we grabbed her, she had light brown straight hair, but look at it now, it's all curly and messy, just like the girl in the paper, they must have dyed their hair!"

Joel Tuck looked at Trixie in a thunderous rage. "Are you this Trixie Belden or not?" he asked her with a voice like steel.

"Yes, yes I am." Trixie replied, looking him straight in the eye.

"What are we going to do?" Steve asked his father.

Brodin looked over at Trixie, "You lied to me? I thought we were friends?"

"We are Brodin, we are, I was afraid, I didn't know what would happen if you found out you had the wrong girl," Trixie answered him, pleading with her eyes for him to believe her.

"Damn it, Dad read this bit, they know about my car, that guy that was out running saw us, and he identified the car as a 1960's dark green Chevy, with two male occupants! What are we going to do Dad?" Steve was starting to panic.

"Calm down, both of you!" Joel Tuck yelled, getting his son's attention. "Right! Steve, you get the fire going, make sure its roaring, we need to burn everything Miss Belden has touched, especially the pillow and sleeping bag she's been using, Brodin you go and grab the cleaning products from my car, the two of you are going to need to scrub that room down, we need to get rid of all traces of her!"

Brodin stared at his father, startled, "Dad?"

"Move!" Joel shouted at him, and shoved him out the door.

"What are you going to do, Dad?" Steve asked his father, after Brodin had left.

"Why don't we ask the amateur Detective?" He answered, looking at Trixie.

"You're going to let me go, and turn yourself in." Trixie replied without missing a beat.

Joel Tuck looked at Trixie in surprise, and grinned, "You're a sassy one aren't you, I should've realised you weren't Miss Wheeler, you accepted this situation far too easily. It's a shame I'm going to have to dispose of you, isn't it?" he asked Trixie, not really expecting an answer.

Joel looked at Steve and said, "I'll be back in a few hours, I want to make sure she's nowhere near the cabin, and I know just the place, no one will find her body there."

Mr Tuck came over and grabbed Trixie roughly, he took the keys from his pocket and unlocked the chain around her wrist, fortunately he was so distracted and agitated by the situation he now found himself in, he didn't notice that Trixie was holding her other arm stiffly, close to her body.

Joel dragged Trixie into the main part of the cabin, picked up his hunting rifle, and marched her out of the door, and into the woods.

They walked in silence for what seemed like ages, all the while Trixie was aware of him walking behind her, with his gun loaded at the ready, she put her hands together in front of her, and wrapped her free hand around the bed leg, making sure to keep it out of Joel's sight. She knew she would only get one shot at escape.

"So you and Miss Wheeler are friends?" He asked her, "I can't imagine Matthew Wheelers spoilt brat being friends with a country bumpkin like you."

"Honey's not at all stuck up or proud, she's down to earth, and hardworking!" Trixie told him, loyally defending Honey.

"Well, she's gonna have to live with the knowledge her friend died in her place!" Joel laughed behind Trixie's back, "But before I kill you, you and I are going to get better acquainted …"

Trixie stiffened, she knew what he meant, she had seen the way he looked at her, and the way he touched her, the few times he'd taken her to use the long-drop. _There's no way I'm letting him touch me again! I'd rather die first!_ She thought to herself, her resolve to escape even stronger.

Finally Joel told her to stop, Trixie heard him coming closer behind her, and stood still, not daring to face him.

"Take your clothes off!" he snarled at her.

Trixie heard the sound of a belt buckle been undone, and a zipper sliding down, she took a step backwards, pretending to be struggling with her sweatshirt, and removed the bed leg from her sleeve, she swung around quickly and forcefully.

Joel Tuck staggered to the ground, shocked; he didn't know what hit him, he lay there stunned, head throbbing.

Trixie couldn't believe she had hit him, and by the looks of it, it was a good hit, she could see a cut on the side of his head, and blood was dripping onto the ground. She stood there staring, fascinated, when suddenly Mr Tuck started to moan and try to get up. Joel's movements and groans, shocked Trixie out of her dazed trance, and she turned and ran into the woods as fast as she could, not stopping to look back.

Trixie heard the sound of a gunshot somewhere behind her.

**Please review! Thank you to all those that have already, you are all very encouraging!**


	27. Chapter 27

**I know it's been a while since my last update, sorry about that, life keeps on getting in the way! **

**Usual disclaimer regarding the characters in this story. **

**Please review.**

**CHAPTER 27**

Meanwhile, back in Sleepyside.

Once breakfast was finished, John went back into the family room to make contact with his agents out in the field, he was getting impatient.

He called Cathy and Eddy first, they didn't have anything new to report, they were currently going through Luke Smith's credit card transactions trying to find something that would lead them to Trixie, and they had the phone company checking his phone records, to see if there were any phone calls to Matthew Wheeler in the last 24 hours, so far nothing had turned up, but they were still tracking down phone numbers for his place of employment.

John knew Sam and Kelly weren't going to be making contact with Kenneth Stuart until later in the morning, as he had refused to meet with them any earlier. In the meantime they had the phone company check into calls made from his personal phone, none were to Matthew Wheeler.

Peter Belden came into the room, "When did you want to go over the plan for the phone call? I don't want to mess it up, and put Trixie in any more danger." He told the chief.

"Now's fine, Peter." John answered him, and came and sat next to him with a pad and pen.

Half an hour later, Peter felt reasonably confident of the part he would need to play if the kidnappers rung Crabapple farm tomorrow.

At Manor House, Luke had gone over the same plan with Matthew Wheeler, stressing the need for Matthew to keep playing along, if the kidnappers were still unaware of the mistake they had made. Matthew was sure he would be able to play his part well, Trixie was like a daughter to him, and he was genuinely worried about her, and wished for her safe return.

-00—00—00—

In the forest, Trixie Belden was running for her life, the gunshot had missed her, but it was too close for comfort, she needed to keep running, she couldn't risk stopping to try and get her bearings or else Joel Tuck could catch up with her.

Joel had managed to get onto his feet and fire one shot at Trixie's retreating back, as she disappeared into the forest, but his vision had been blurry, and he wasn't sure whether he had hit her or not, his pounding head was making it difficult to concentrate, causing him to stagger around, stumbling and falling numerous times, until eventually he had to stop and rest his head. He wasn't worried though, he figured he would be able to track her progress pretty easily, most people when lost in a forest, ended up walking around in circles.

Back at the cabin, Brodin had returned, he had been hurt by the realisation that Madeleine/Trixie had lied to him, but on the walk to the car and back he'd had time to think, and now understood her reasons for keeping quiet. He wanted to tell her he didn't blame her. He went into the room to talk to her, only to find her gone.

"Where's Trixie?" he asked his brother.

"Dad's taken her for a walk." Steve replied quietly.

"What do you mean '_a walk' _"Brodin asked him, not sure if he wanted to hear the reply.

"We can't just let her go Brodin, she knows too much, our names and our faces, what did you think was going to happen when this was all over?" Steve answered him.

"But that's murder! I never agreed to that! Where are they? We have to stop him!" Brodin cried, before running out of the cabin.

Steve ran after him, "I have no idea where he's taken her," and he gestured to the forest that surrounded the cabin, "I'm not about to go wondering around in there on my own, we have work to do, we need to get the cabin cleaned up!"

Brodin felt resigned, he knew Steve was right, there was no way they could find their father and Trixie, they didn't know the forest as well as he did, and they would most likely only get lost, he wondered how on earth he had gotten involved in this in the first place, it had been a big mistake from the beginning, if only he hadn't been so afraid of his father.

The two of them got to work in the room Trixie had been using, they stripped the bed of the pillow and sleeping bag, throwing them onto the fire that Steve had roaring in the fireplace. Then they set about cleaning the room, spraying everything down, and scrubbing the floors.

"Help me move this bed Brodin." Steve requested.

Brodin came over and together they moved the bed Trixie had slept on, they swept and cleaned the floor where the bed had been. When they were done, Brodin went over to the other bed ready to move it away from the wall too.

"Leave that one, the chain wasn't that long, she wouldn't have been able to do much on that bed, just make sure to sweep under it." Steve told him.

The boys worked hard, both wondering what would happen when their father returned.

-00—00—00—

Trixie had been running for what seemed like miles, and she took the chance to stop and listen, hoping to hear signs of where Joel Tuck might be, she crouched down on the ground, not wanting to be conspicuous. She couldn't hear anything, hopefully that was a good sign and she had lost him.

Feeling a small degree of relief, she sat down, she needed to catch her breath, she was extremely thirsty, and that concerned her, she had had a drink of water earlier, when she first woke up, but nothing since. Brodin had told her about the small stream they were able to collect their water from for the cabin, but it had been on the west side of the cabin, and Trixie needed to head east towards New York City. She wondered if there would be another stream somewhere in these woods, and whether she would find it, she knew an average person could go 3 days without water, Trixie hoped she would have found her way out before then.

She needed to work out which way was East, peering at the sky through the trees, Trixie located the sun, and then used the method Jim had taught her to find her bearings using the sun and an analogue watch, _Jim would be so proud of me_, she thought to herself, as she started walking East at a steady pace.

Up until the point Steve had returned with the newspaper, Trixie had been sure that the police weren't far away, but after hearing the little bit she had from the article, she realised that wasn't the case, no one knew who had taken her, or where she was, Trixie Belden was all alone, lost in a forest, a long way from home.

**Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. **


	28. Chapter 28

**Usual disclaimers of course! **

**CHAPTER 28**

John Ogilvie was drumming his fingers on the table in front of him, things were progressing slowly, too slowly, for his liking, but there wasn't much he could do to speed things up, they needed to be sure they didn't miss anything, Cathy and Eddy were sure Luke Smith was hiding something, they just hadn't been able to find the link back to Matthew Wheeler or Trixie Belden yet, but they were sure it was only a matter of time. John hoped that Trixie had that time to spare.

Looking at his watch, he noted the time, Sam and Kelly had been interviewing Kenneth Stuart for a couple of hours now, John picked up his phone and gave Kelly a call, he wanted an update.

"Kelly, do you have anything to report?" John asked.

"No, not yet, he has been out of the state, visiting his girlfriend, so he says, we are checking into that, I've contacted a couple of agents in Washington to check his Alibi with the girlfriend and her family. I'm waiting for them to get back to me." Kelly informed him.

"Well, let me know as soon as you hear back. Cathy and Eddy aren't having much luck finding a link, but they are sure Luke Smith is hiding something." John told her before hanging up.

He wandered out into the living room and watched the Bob-Whites from the doorway, they were all sitting around together, going over photo albums, every now and then one of them would cry out, "Remember this?" or "I can't believe Trixie did that!" and they would all start talking, sharing their memories of Trixie with each other.

"Remember this picture Jim?" Honey asked her brother, she was holding the picture the reporter had taken in Happy Valley, after they had solved the case of the mysteriously missing sheep on uncle Andrews farm.

"Yes, sure do!" Jim replied. His mind wandered back over the events that had lead up to the picture been taken, it had been an extremely terrifying experience, lost in a flash flood stuck on a barn roof with water rising higher and higher, they had been rescued in the nick of time, thanks to Mart and Mr Gorman.

"Of course Jim remembers the Happy Valley Mystery," Di spoke up. "It was on our way home on the plane that Jim gave Trixie her bracelet, remember?" She looked around at the rest of the Bob-Whites and winked, they all knew how Jim and Trixie felt about each other, but while Jim wasn't embarrassed by his feelings, Trixie had been, and so nothing had actually happened between them other than a few fond glances, hand holding and the occasional tug on a favourite curl.

"That was when you first met Ned and the Hubbell Twins, Bob and Barbara wasn't it?" Dan asked, since he had not been able to go on that trip.

"Yes, that's right." Honey said. "Remember how attentive Ned was to Trixie? Someone got a bit jealous."

"Jim wasn't the only one." Mart sniggered, "Remember Dot Murray?"

While the rest of the Bob-Whites reminisced about the Basketball game and the dance that followed, Jim thought back over the conversation he had had with Trixie during the dance.

_The hour had grown late and Trixie and Jim were dancing. "It isn't the same here as it is at our dances at home," she had said. "I must have danced with a dozen different boys instead of just one."_

"_Yes, I noticed you were having quite a ball. Are you really having a good time? Ned Schulz seems to have the Indian sign on you."_ _Jim asked._

Jim had been really jealous, Trixie really did seem to be having a good time dancing with a lot of different boys, but it had seemed that she always ended up back with Ned, and he had spent most of the night with Dot Murray, trying in vain, to not notice who Trixie was dancing with.

"_And Dot seems to have the Indian sign on you. You've been her slave all evening!"_

"_Why, Trixie," Jim stopped dancing right in the middle of the floor, then led Trixie to a bench on the side of the room. "You're fooling!" he said._

"_I'm not! If you like that glamour type best you're just welcome to her. I mean it!"_

Jim had been surprised by Trixie's words, surprised and happy, she had sounded jealous herself. Jim just wished he had handled the next part of the conversation differently.

"_I like both kinds," Jim said. "Dot is glamorous. She's really glamorous. She went out of her way to be nice to me and I appreciate it."_

"_I can see that you do," Trixie said. Then she added wistfully, "Oh, Jim, I wish I'd been born beautiful!"_

"_The other kind of girl," Jim went on, "didn't dress up just to impress me or any other boy. She never does. She's genuine and so comfortable to be around. She's my choice of the two. Right now her sandy curls need combing and she sure could use some lipstick!"_

What he had really wanted to say, was that while Dot might be glamorous, to him Trixie _was_ _beautiful_ , that he loved looking into her sparkling blue eyes, and he had dreamed many times about running his hands through her hair, and kissing her lips, but she had only been 13 years old, and he knew she was too young to hear those words, so he hadn't told her how he felt, instead he had told her hair needed brushing and she needed more lipstick. _Real smooth Frayne._

"Jim! Jim!" Brian was calling.

"Ah, yes?" Jim finally answered, he hadn't been paying attention to the conversation going on around him and had no idea why Brian was calling out to him.

"You ok?" Brian asked him.

"Yeah I'm fine, well as fine as I can be with Trixie missing." He answered, he turned his head and noticed Chief Ogilvie standing in the doorway watching them, and asked. "Any news yet?"

John shrugged, and shook his head, "No, nothing yet, but I'm sure It's only a matter of time. Do you mind if I join you, I wouldn't mind looking through those albums too?" He had seen the effect it was having on the Bob-Whites, they were happy remembering good times with Trixie.

A few hours later, John Ogilvie was back in the family room in front of his computer, Sam and Kelly had rung with an update, all Kenneth's alibis had checked out, and he was in the clear. John asked them to move onto Joel Tuck, and had given them the relevant information that he had gotten from Matthew Wheeler. Sam and Kelly had gone around to the house, only to find no-one was home, a neighbour had seen them and informed them that Sally Tuck was at work, and would be back early in the morning, while Joel and his two sons had gone hunting almost two weeks ago. It didn't sound promising, but John had told them to wait till the morning to talk to Sally Tuck.

John wondered if anyone would sleep that night, tomorrow was the day the kidnappers were supposed to ring back with further instructions, if only he could be sure Paul Trent's interference hadn't done any damage, _I guess we'll find out in the morning,_ he thought to himself.

-00—00—00—

It was getting dark, Trixie was finding it harder and harder to get her bearings using her watch with the sun disappearing, Jim had started to teach her how to navigate at night using the stars, but she wasn't as confident using that method, especially since she couldn't distinguish any major landmarks in the distance to head towards, she needed to find somewhere safe to spend the night, _what could be more safe than up a tree, _She thought to herself and started to climb the nearest tall tree. She didn't think she would get much sleep, especially since she was worried about falling out, but at least she would be out of the path of any foraging animals.

Joel Tuck had been following Trixie's path through the forest, his head had throbbing on and off, and his eyesight was still a bit blurry, making progress difficult, he guessed he was most likely suffering from concussion. _That Belden girl is going to pay when I catch up with her! _He muttered to himself angrily.

Joel had thought she would be easy to find, but he'd been surprised to notice that she hadn't been going around in circles like he had imagined, in fact she seemed to be heading in the right direction and that worried him. He didn't know how far in front of him she was, and he was determined to find her, but for now he needed to find somewhere to spend the night, he cursed the fact he hadn't grabbed a torch when he left the cabin earlier in the day, if he had, he could have continued tracking her through the night.

Alone in the cabin, Steve and Brodin sat and waited.

**Please review! Thanks for reading. **


	29. Chapter 29

**grandma Cindy, thank you for positive words, I am glad that you are enjoying the story.**

**Daughterof8, I sure hope Trixie gets to safety too! Oh wait a minute, I'm the one writing this story … it's up to me if she survives or not …. Oh the pressure!**

**Queen Sea, stop whining! Here is another chapter! LOL**

**Teddy100, hope you enjoy this update!**

**To my guest reviewers, I wish she had clobbered him harder too, but that would have ruined my fun! Yup Trent is stupid! Oh and I found Joel for you, unfortunately he wasn't on his way back to the cabin … **

**CHAPTER 29**

The incessant ringing in his ear forced Jim's eye's open, it was still dark outside, and he shook his head trying to wake up. Suddenly he remembered why his alarm clock was set so early, and he shot out of bed quickly, throwing clothes on in a hurry. He rushed out of his room to knock on Honey's bedroom door, waking her up.

He heard a door open further down the hall, and his father emerged with a determined look in his eyes, they nodded at each other, in solidarity. Hearing a noise downstairs, Jim knew agents Jay and Sonya were awake and preparing for the day, making sure the tap on the phone line was working.

The morning at Crabapple Farm started off pretty much the same way, everyone was up early, nervously looking at each other, all wondering what the day would bring, and hoping by the end of it, Trixie would be home safe in her own bed.

It had been decided among the Bob-Whites, that Honey and Jim along with Dan would remain at Manor House, waiting for the phone call with Matthew Wheeler, while the Belden's and Di would wait at Crabapple Farm. As soon as anything was heard, they would all meet together and make plans to get Trixie home safely.

Matthew Wheeler had called a meeting with John Ogilvie and Peter Belden late the night before, he had told the Chief that he would rather lose 3 million dollars, if it meant getting Trixie back safely; he had asked John to promise that none of his agents would make any moves on the kidnappers, until Trixie was safe. John Ogilvie had promised Trixie's safety would be of paramount importance.

It was a waiting game, the kidnappers had called sometime between 7 and 7:30am two days ago, it was expected the next call would come around the same time. At 6:45am the occupants of Manor House were all crowded in Matthew Wheelers small study, silently watching the clock. They had been told no one was to talk, no one but Matthew Wheeler once the call came.

At Crabapple Farm they had crowded into the family room that had been set up as a base, Wendell Mollison had arrived, this case had become very personal to him, he wanted Trixie Belden home safely just as much as anyone else in the room.

Sam and Kelly were parked outside the Tuck residence; waiting for Sally Tuck to arrive home, the neighbour hadn't been able to tell them for sure what time to expect her. Hot drinks and donuts in hand, they sat silently.

-00—00—00—

Trixie had nodded off sometime during the night for a short time, the hooting of an owl had woken her up, and she had struggled to keep her eyes open for the rest of the night, now finally daylight was peeking through the trees, and Trixie started to climb down, she had noted the position of the sun and started heading East again, her stomach was grumbling, and her throat dry, but she was determined to keep going.

Joel Tuck had spent an uncomfortable cold night on the forest floor, it had done nothing to improve his headache or his temper, feeling stiff and achy he dragged himself up onto his feet and started to follow Trixie's path through the trees. Planning what he would do to her once he caught up with her.

Steve and Brodin had waited for their father to return late into the night, until they had both finally fallen asleep, now they were awake, and realised he had not come back during the night, they wondered what was keeping him, but knew it was pointless to enter the forest and try to find him, all they could do was wait.

-00—00—00—

"Why haven't they rung yet?" Honey Wheeler broke the silence at Manor House, it was 8am, the expected time for the call had come and gone, "They should have rung by now, why haven't they?"

"I don't know Miss Wheeler, he didn't say he would ring at exactly the same time, we just have to be patient." Jay answered her, he had his own reasons for thinking why the call hadn't come, but he didn't want to voice them, not yet.

Jim and Dan looked at each other, the sinking feeling in Jim's stomach was eating him alive, _please be okay Shamus, please be okay._

At Crabapple Farm it was Helen Belden that broke the silence, "It's 8am now, shouldn't they have rung by now, have you heard anything from your agents at Manor House, has Matthew talked to the kidnappers?"

"Helen, Jay and Sonya will ring me on the secure line as soon as they hear anything, until then all we can do is wait, they didn't say what time they would ring back, it could be anytime today." John Ogilvie answered her patiently.

Mart stood up and paced the room, Trixie was _his almost twin_, they spent a lot of time arguing with each other, but she was the sibling he was the closest too, he couldn't imagine what the rest of his life would be like without Trixie in it.

Di watched Mart pacing the room, she felt helpless, she knew how close Mart and Trixie were, and she wished there was something she could do. "Mrs Belden, do you mind if I put the jug on and make a pot of tea?" Di asked, wanting to do something useful.

"Of course not Di, that would be lovely dear, let me help you." Helen answered and got up, heading to the kitchen, she needed to be busy, hopefully it would stop her worrying about Trixie, and why the kidnappers hadn't called yet. It didn't work.

Sam and Kelly were still waiting, they had hoped that Chief Ogilvie would have rung them by now with an update from the kidnappers, but they hadn't heard anything, both hoped that Paul Trent's article hadn't put Trixie's life in more danger. At 8:30am they noticed a woman pull up the driveway at the Tuck residence and get out of the car, they looked at each other and exited their vehicle, as the woman approached the front door, Kelly called out, "Hello, are you Sally Tuck?" when the woman nodded, Kelly showed her her badge and asked if they could come inside to ask her a few questions.

"Of course, what's this about? Is it Joel, or one of my sons, has something happened to them? Are they alright?" Sally Tuck asked, panicking.

"As far as I know ma'am, both your husband and your sons are fine, we here to ask some questions about Matthew Wheeler." Kelly informed her.

"Oh, is this to do with the kidnapping? I've seen it on the news and in the papers, what a dreadful thing to have happened, Mr Wheeler is such a nice man too, he didn't deserve anything like this to happen to him, although I guess he's glad it was his daughter's friend that was taken by mistake." Sally responded.

"I can assure you Mrs Tuck, that Matthew Wheeler is just as concerned about his daughter's friend as he would be about his own daughter." Sam answered her.

"You don't think Joel had anything to do with this do you?" Sally asked them. "He has been away with our two sons hunting for almost two weeks now, before any of this happened, I expect them home tomorrow."

"It's our job to check into any and all possibilities Mrs Tuck, I'm sure your husband has nothing to worry about." Sam replied.

Sally Tuck nodded, and then unlocked her front door, ushering the two agents inside, "Shall I put the jug on?" she asked them.

"That would be nice, thank you." Kelly replied, hoping that Eddy and Cathy were having more luck with Luke Smith, because it looked like Joel Tuck would be another dead end.

**Still don't own these characters except the bad dudes, and to be honest I don't really want them!**

**Please review! **


	30. Chapter 30

**Usual disclaimer!**

**CHAPTER 30**

Sally Tuck returned to the lounge where Kelly and Sam were sitting, with a tea tray. She offered both agents a cup and poured tea for them both, before sitting down.

"Well officers, how can I help you?" She asked them both.

"We'd like to ask a few questions about your husband's dealings with Matthew Wheeler, we were hoping to speak to him himself, but since he isn't here, would you mind filling us in with what you know?" Sam asked her.

"Not at all, anything to help Matthew Wheeler." Sally informed them.

"I understand that your husband wasn't very happy about selling Tuck Inn at first, is that right?" Kelly prodded.

"Yes that's right, Joel's parents had started the Inn before Joel was born, so he was rather attached to it, and didn't want to let it go, he was planning on upgrading the business, hoping to attract a more profitable clientele, but then the recession hit and that made things difficult. Joel was sure they would be able to ride out the financial crisis, but his two older brothers decided to sell up, it caused a bit of a rift in the family I'm afraid." Sally answered them

"I understand Joel turned down Matthew's job offer, is he working now?" Sam pressed on.

"Yes Joel did, he didn't think he would be able to work in his family's business as just a manager, he was hoping he could find employment elsewhere that could use his experience, but it's been very difficult finding employment, thankfully just before he left for this hunting trip he told me he had found a new job, he starts next week." Sally smiled at them.

"Oh, that's good news, you must feel relieved." Kelly said.

"Yes, very relieved, things have been a bit difficult for a while, we had to move out of the family home and rent this small place, and I started looking around for employment as well, fortunately I was able to find the job I have now, it's not much, but I enjoy it, and now with Joel finding a job, things will get better." Sally informed them.

"You have two children, is that right?" Sam asked.

"Yes, two sons, Steve and Brodin, they are both at college at present, that was our biggest concern, if Joel wasn't able to find work, the boys would have to leave college, when Joel explained that to Matthew, he gave Joel enough money to pay their fees for the next year, giving us time to find work and get settled. Both Joel and I are very grateful for his help." Sally continued.

"How did your sons take the announcement?" Kelly interjected.

"Oh, well, to be honest, Joel felt it would be better not to tell them until the school year was finished, he didn't want to upset them during finals, that's why he's taken them away hunting now, he wanted to explain everything to them." Sally whispered. "Brodin will take it the hardest I think, he really loved his grandfather, and he was looking forward to carrying on the family business, he is studying Business Management at NYC, but once Joel explains it to him, and how generous Matthew has been, I'm sure he will be fine."

"What about your other son Steve?" Sam asked.

"I don't think he was as interested in working at the Inn as Brodin was, I don't think he will be too concerned at all." Sally smiled.

"Exactly where is this hunting cabin that they have gone too Mrs Tuck?" Kelly questioned.

"To be honest, I'm not totally sure, I've never been there myself, it's upstate somewhere, I can get the address for you if you like, but they should be home tomorrow, if you want to talk to them. Joel has a phone in his car, but I can't ring them to come home earlier, as there is no power or phone reception where they are, it's rather rustic I believe." Sally informed them.

"Sounds like the ideal place to get away from it all." Sam mused. "I wouldn't mind a place like that myself. Two weeks out in the bush hunting, sounds just like my idea of fun!" he added smiling.

"You would Sam!" Kelly laughed. "My idea of a great holiday would be staying at home and vegetating, maybe doing some baking, I don't get enough time for that these days."

"Oh, I know just what you mean!" Sally exclaimed.

While Sally and Kelly were exchanging favourite baking recipes, Sam got up and walked around the small room, he paused at the mantelpiece looking at photos of the Tuck family.

"Who's this picture of?" Sam asked Sally

"Oh, that's my oldest boy Steve," she said, "it was taken two years ago, just after he brought his first car."

"Is it the one in the picture?" Sam asked her.

"Yes, it is, he was so proud of himself, he saved up and brought that car all by himself, it's his pride and joy, like most boys his age I guess." She answered

"What colour is it, it looks dark green in this picture?" he asked her further.

"Yes, it is. Are you a car man yourself?" She asked him.

"Not really, I prefer motorbikes actually." He laughed, "Much to my wife's disgust. Can you tell what the make and model of this car is, I can't tell from the picture."

"It's a 1963 Chevy." Sally informed them. "I know that because it's all he talked about for months after he brought it."

Kelly had been listening to the conversation half-heartedly, but now Sam was looking intently at her, and she started to pay more attention.

"A dark green 1963 Chevy?" Kelly asked, wanting to be sure they had heard right.

"Yes that's it." Sally said.

"Where is the car now, I'd love to take a look at it?" Sam spoke quietly, not wanting to give away anything.

"Oh, they took it hunting with them, they took both cars, Joel's and Steve's, just in case someone wanted to come back early." Sally laughed.

"That makes sense," Sam said, with a knowing look at Kelly.

"Mrs Tuck, do you mind giving me your husband's phone number for his car phone, maybe I'll give him a call tomorrow when he gets back into town, just to confirm everything you've told us. Also the address for the hunting cabin, we need to add the information to our files, all standard procedure." Sam said.

"Not at all, if you just give me a few minutes, the address for the cabin should be in our tax return, I'll just look it up." She replied, a short while later, Sally had written down the address for the cabin, and Joel's car phone number.

Sam turned back to the mantelpiece, "is this a family photo of you all?" he asked, picking up another picture from off the shelf.

"Yes, it is, that was taken last summer, after Brodin's first year at college." She told them.

"I'm going to need to borrow this Mrs Tuck, I'll get a copy of it, and bring it back to you, it's just for our records, so we can show who we spoke too." Sam said, hoping Mrs Tuck would believe his explanation.

"Of course, no problem at all." She told them.

"Thank you Mrs Tuck, you've been very helpful, we will be in touch." Kelly said, standing up and moving towards the front door.

"You're both very welcome, I hope you find that poor girl before it's too late, her parents must be beside themselves with worry." Sally said sadly.

"So do we, Mrs Tuck, so do we." Sam replied as they went through the front door and down the path.

**All reviews appreciated!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Usual disclaimer!**

**CHAPTER 31**

Once they were back in the car, Kelly checked her watch, they had been talking to Mrs Tuck for almost 3 hours, it hadn't seemed that long but, they had allowed her to ramble on a bit, helping to her to feel more comfortable and open up more.

"What do you think?" Sam asked Kelly as they drove away.

"I don't know, if Joel has her, I don't think Sally knows anything about it. But it doesn't add up, according to Sally, Joel was very grateful for Matthew Wheelers help in the end." She answered him.

"There is the car though, a dark green 1960's Chevy, just like the one spotted after the abduction." Sam pointed out.

"Yes, but how many dark green Chevy's are there in the New York State, you ran the numbers on that." Kelly reminded him.

"Hundreds!" He sighed. "I know it could just be a coincidence, let's run the phone number and see if we get any hits before ringing Ogilvie, I don't want to get him excited for nothing."

An hour later, Sam and Kelly were sitting in the New York office for the FBI, they had rung the phone company and were waiting for the results.

Meanwhile back in Sleepyside, nerves were very fraught, it was lunchtime, and no phone calls had been received at either Manor House or Crabapple Farm.

John Ogilvie was concerned, very concerned, he had been an FBI agent for over twenty years, and kidnappers never missed a deadline, unless something had gone terribly wrong. Yes they hadn't been given an exact time, but 2 days had passed, and they were now five hours into the third day. He didn't like it, not one bit.

Jim, Honey and Dan had just arrived at Crabapple Farm, they had wanted to talk to Chief Ogilvie, Agent Jay kept telling them to be patient, that there was no specific time given for the call, but they weren't buying that, not any longer.

"What's happening chief?" Jim asked him. "What do we do now? And don't give us that bull about waiting, and there been no set time for the call, we've been hearing it all morning."

"Sit down, all of you." John said, to the Bob-Whites and Peter and Helen.

"Okay, I had hoped that we would have received a call by now, but as you are aware we haven't. And yes there was no specific time given, from what your father can remember about the conversation he had, so it could still happen." John held up his hand to silence the group, as they all started talking at once. "I have two concerns, One, that because of Paul Trent's interference, they are now know they have the wrong girl, and are deciding what to do about it. Or secondly, the call could have been a hoax all along.

"It wasn't Chief, I know I don't have Trixie's instincts when it comes to mysteries, but I have picked up a thing or two from her, and I am sure I'm right." Honey spoke up.

"I'm inclined to agree with you Honey, at this point it's the only path we haven't fully investigated." John answered her.

"So what do we do now, if they know they have the wrong girl, what are they likely to do?" Brian asked.

"Trent's article asked them to release her." John reminded them.

"Are they really likely to do that though?" Peter asked.

"It is possible." John answered.

"In your experience Chief, what do you think is the most likely outcome?" Dan asked him, cutting to the chase.

John sighed, if he was dealing with any other group of people, he would keep stressing the positive, but they weren't, they were the Bob-Whites, he had been following them since he had first met them, and he had been impressed with what they had accomplished, he also knew they weren't stupid, they knew what the answer was, they were just waiting for him to confirm it.

"I'm afraid that they will decide to dispose of Trixie." He answered them sadly.

"Oh NO!" Helen Belden cried out. "There must be something we can do!"

Peter put his arm around his wife's shoulders, comforting her. "Trixie's tough Helen, if there's a way out, she'll find it."

The Bob-Whites all nodded in agreement, trying to reassure themselves and each other.

"Well I guess it's time I got updates." John told the assembled group, as he reached for the phone and called Eddy.

"Ogilvie here, anything new?" John said into the phone.

"Actually, yes there is." Eddy replied.

"Right hold on a minute, I'm going to put you on speakerphone, so everyone hears the same information." John told him.

"Right, well Chief, it seems Luke Smith has gotten himself involved in narcotics, that's what he has been hiding, he has some major debt to clear, three million would cover the debt with a little bit left over. He is still denying any involvement in the abduction, but at least now we have something to work with." Eddy informed the gathered group.

"Good work!" John exclaimed. "This could be the lead we needed. Have you been in touch with the director? More man power would uncover any loose ends a lot quicker, finding the link we need."

"I was about to give him a call when you rung chief. I take it there have been no new developments there?" Eddy asked him quietly.

"No, unfortunately not." John replied. "I'll let you go and ring the director, keep me posted."

With that John ended the phone call.

"That sounded promising." Wendell Mollison said, "It would give him motive."

"Yes it would, it is good news." John stated.

"I'd better give Sam and Kelly a ring and bring them up to date." John said, while dialling another number.

"Kelly, Ogilvie here, Eddy and Cathy have found out what Luke Smith has been hiding, he's been dealing drugs, and has quite a debt to cover, it could be the motive we've been looking for."

"That's great news Chief!" Kelly exclaimed. "I hope that pans out."

"Do you have anything to report?" John asked her.

Kelly looked across at her partner, and he nodded.

"We met with Mrs Tuck, we found a possible link too, but nothing is adding up." Kelly informed him.

"What link have you found?" John inquired, finally, things were starting to happen, it had been nine days since Trixie was taken, and during that time no real clues had turned up, now it seemed they had two possibilities in front of them.

"Joel Tucks oldest son Steve, has a 1963 dark green Chevy." Kelly told him. "The thing is, Joel and his son's have gone hunting upstate, they've been gone for almost two weeks, before any of this happened, Joel does have a phone in his car, but where they are, there is no power or phone reception, we've asked the phone company to check his call logs anyway, we're just waiting to hear back from them. But from what Sally Tuck told us, they have every reason to be grateful to Matthew Wheeler for what he did for them, so no motive, but we will talk to Joel when he returns from his hunting trip tomorrow."

"Good, while you're waiting for Joel to return, do you want to start investigating Logan Marshall? I'll fax you the details." John asked them.

"Sure thing Chief." Kelly answered. "Oh wait, the results are just coming through on the phone check."

The group assembled at Crabapple Farm learned forward expectantly.

"Darn, just as we thought, Joel's phone hasn't been used for almost two weeks, another dead end." Kelly sighed.

"Right, good work anyway," John said. "I'll send you the Marshall details now, let me know when you have made contact."

"Right chief" Kelly answered him.

"WAIT!"

John Ogilvie turned around in shock, it was Honey Wheeler who had stood up and yelled out.

"What is it Honey?" John asked her.

"What if he didn't use his own phone? Is there a General Store somewhere close by, usually General Stores have pay phones for people who are travelling through, what if he used one of those?" she asked him hurriedly, her words tumbling out.

John Ogilvie looked at Honey for a moment, and then nodded. "Good point." "Kelly, you still there?"

"Still here Chief, Sam's on the computer now, tracking down the closest general store." Kelly's voice came through the phone.

"There's one about 20 miles east of where they would have parked their cars!" She exclaimed a few minutes later. "Sam's ringing the phone company now, the check will take a while do you want to hold, or shall we ring you back?"

"We'll hold." John told her, looking around at the group in front of him. No one spoke, the room was silent, as they all waited and hoped.

Twenty minutes later Kelly's excited voice could be heard on the phone. "We've got him Chief!"

**Please review! **


	32. Chapter 32

**Still don't own the good characters, except Sam and Kelly! Random house owns the others, and the bad guys, well, they are just a figment of my imagination.**

**CHAPTER 32**

Pandemonium broke out at Crabapple Farm, everyone was talking and yelling at once, John Ogilvie, called for silence, and once everyone had settled down, he looked at Honey and nodded.

"Good work, Honey." John said quietly.

"Thank you Chief, thank you for listening to me." Honey told him, sniffing back tears, "Can we go and get Trixie now?"

John smiled at Honey, he could see now why Trixie and Honey made such a great team, Trixie found the mysteries, and came up with the theories, Honey was the quiet one, the thinker, together they were a force to be reckoned with.

"Oh Honey, thank you, thank you so much!" Helen Belden threw her arms around Honey and hugged her close.

"Way to go sis!" Jim said, tapping her on the head, gently smiling broadly at her. "Way to go!"

The rest of the Bob-Whites followed suit, congratulating Honey, and thanking her for quick thinking.

"What do you want us to do now Chief?" Kelly asked.

"Give me the address of the hunting cabin, and you and Sam get hold of a judge and get a search warrant, I don't want this guy getting away because of a technicality. I'll get hold of the local police department and meet you there." John barked down the phone.

Kelly gave him the address and hung up. John Ogilvie went over to his computer and punched in the address; very soon he had the coordinates of the hunting cabin and was working out the quickest route to get to there.

"I'm going to go home to let Dad and Mother know what's happening, and get the Bob-White wagon, we'll follow you there." Jim said, turning to leave the room.

"Jim, wait," John called out. "I know I can't stop you from following me there, but I want to make it clear to all of you, you are to stay back out of the way, I won't hesitate to arrest anyone who gets in the way, these criminals have guns, the last thing I need is to be worrying about your safety as well." John looked at all the Bob-Whites sternly. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir!" they all replied

"Jim I'll come with you, and let Uncle Regan know where I'm going." Dan said, and together they left heading for Manor House.

"I'll call Ed and Sharon, hopefully they won't mind having Bobby for a bit longer," Helen said, heading towards the phone.

"I'm sure they won't Mrs Belden, do you mind if I talk to Mom after you, I want to let her know that I'm going too." Diana asked.

The Lynches agreed to have Bobby longer, insisting he was no trouble at all.

Within thirty minutes, Matthew and Madeleine Wheeler were parked in the Belden driveway, Ed Lynch had been and gone, leaving Diana with a credit card to use if she needed anything, he had shook Peter's hand and wished him all the best, asking him to pass on their love to Trixie when they saw her.

Matthew offered to Drive Peter and Helen, he could see Peter was having trouble controlling his emotions and was glad when Peter agreed. The Bob-Whites would travel together in the Bob-White wagon, Dan had returned with good wishes from both Regan and Mr Maypenny.

Soon they were off, on their way, each with hope in their hearts that Trixie would be home soon.

-00—00—00—

Trixie was getting tired, sore and thirsty, slowing her progress down, she looked up to check the suns position again, making sure she was heading in the right direction, and noticed the dark clouds that seemed to be gathering overhead. _Great, that's just what I need a summer downpour, _She thought to herself, _I better find some shelter, the last thing I need is to get soaking wet, and with the clouds covering the sun, it will be hard to find my direction, I'll have to wait it out._

She started scouting around for somewhere to hide, and noticed a hollow in the side of a small cliff she had climbed down minutes before, I looked like it would be large enough for her to sit in, but she would need to make some sort of covering to shelter from the rain. She quickly gathered branches, threading them together, just the way Jim had shown her.

Within ten minutes of Trixie entering her shelter it started to pour down, Trixie stuck her head out the makeshift door and greedily slurped the water that hit her face and mouth.

Joel Tuck was cursing the rain, it would interfere with the tracks she had left, making it more difficult to follow her, he knew he should find cover, but instead he kept going, taking a drink from the bottle he had grabbed along with his gun on the way out the cabin the day before, he realised he was running out of water, but at least he had some, the Belden girl had none, although the rain would help with that.

Back at the cabin, Steve and Brodin sat and waited, their Dad should have been back by now, and with the rain coming they were worried.

"Maybe we should call the police." Brodin said.

"And tell them what? Our Dad went into the forest to dispose of Trixie Belden and never came back?" Steve snorted. "We'll give it another day, Dad knows these woods well, he'll be fine, he's probably stalking a deer or something."

-00—00—00—

Two hours later, Chief Ogilvie, the Bob-Whites and their parents had arrived at the parking site. The rain was bucketing down, it had made setting up the base camp difficult, but finally they were done, the Bob-Whites and their parents had been assigned a tent to use, since they insisted on staying. It was mid-afternoon, and the rain was making the sky dark. Sam and Kelly had arrived along with the warrant and John was in a meeting with them, and the numerous police officers from close by police stations that had been asked to assist.

"Chief, you might want to take a look at this." Sam told him, holding out a file.

"What is it?" John asked taking the file and opening it.

"While we were waiting for the warrant, we did some digging around, it seems Joel Tuck has been living a rather debauched life in the past couple of months, drinking heavily, gambling and visiting brothels, he used the money Matthew gave him for the boys college fees, then borrowed more from the wrong people, he's in over his head. There's also Brodin's medical file in there, we talked to their previous neighbours before they moved to their new home, it seems Brodin is very 'accident prone', the neighbours suspected Joel of child abuse, but never did anything about it." Sam told him quietly, he knew what it meant, someone like that, wouldn't hesitate to hurt an innocent young girl if he felt it was necessary.

"I guess we've got our motive now." John said, wishing the neighbours had done something, then they wouldn't be where they were now.

"There's more Chief." Kelly spoke quietly. "We stopped in at the General Store on our way here, and showed the manager the Tuck family photo, he recognised Steve, he was in there yesterday morning, buying supplies, and a newspaper. Apparently he stormed out of the store after reading the headline."

"Damn!" Chief Ogilvie exclaimed. "Trent is going to pay for this!"

They looked at each other, wondering what they would find once they got to the cabin, would Trixie be ok, would she be badly hurt, would she even still be alive.

"Are we ready to move in?" It was Adam King, the sergeant from the police station located approximately fifty miles away. "My men are armed and waiting, Chief."

"Right, we'll surround the cabin, once everyone is in place, we'll approach the door, and storm in. Don't move or do anything until you hear our signal." John told the assembled law enforcement officers.

"Right." They all replied, ready to go, this story had been big news and they were excited to be in on the conclusion.

John turned to the Sleepyside residents and reminded them again, to stay put, under no circumstances were they to enter the forest, anyone who did would be arrested. He had officers stationed at the base camp in case any of the Tucks turned up, they were to do as they were told and follow orders.

After gaining their affirmatives, John, Sam, Adam and his men entered the forest.

Kelly waited with the Bob-Whites and their parents, John had decided to keep the information they had gathered from them for the time being, if things went wrong and Trixie wasn't okay, he wanted Kelly to be there for them, they knew her and trusted her.

It took John and his men thirty minutes to reach the cabin, the ground underneath had already turned to mud in the heavy downpour, they could see smoke coming from the chimney, and hear music being played. All the windows were covered so there was no way to see inside the cabin.

John and Sam approached the door quietly, followed by Adam and three of his men. Once they were in position, Sam kicked the door in, and they entered the cabin quickly with weapons drawn, surprising the occupants.

"GET DOWN, GET DOWN, PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD, DO IT NOW!" Yelled John Ogilvie.

Steve and Brodin Tuck threw themselves to the ground immediately, "Don't shoot, please don't shoot!" Brodin stammered.

**Please keep reviewing! Thank you to all that have done so, so far. **


	33. Chapter 33

**The creative juices are flowing, here's another chapter, then I'm off to bed, hopefully I will get the chance to post some more tomorrow.**

**CHAPTER 33**

John Ogilvie looked around the cabin, and noticed that only the two boys were present. He signalled to two of the officers to check the bedroom.

"Where's Trixie Belden?" he asked.

Brodin raised his head, and noticed Steve scowling at him threateningly, shaking his head.

"Who?" Steve asked.

"Trixie Belden, where is she?" John repeated.

The officers came out of the bedroom and shook their heads, no one was in there.

"I don't know a Trixie Belden officer, do you have a warrant for this search?" Steve continued.

John threw the piece of paper on the floor. "Where's your father?" he asked again.

"Out hunting." Was Steve's reply, "he's hoping to catch a deer before we go home."

"I need you to tell me where Trixie Belden is immediately!" John roared at the two boys.

Brodin looked scared, he was about to speak, but John noticed Steve shaking his head at him scowling, _I need to separate the, _he thought to himself.

"Get them up on the chairs, and handcuff them." John told his men.

He walked towards the bedroom and poked his head inside, it looked pretty bare, and surprisingly clean for a hunting cabin. "Whose been using that room?" he questioned the boys.

"No one officer, we've all been sleeping out here by the fire." Again it was Steve who answered.

"It's extremely clean, for a hunting cabin, especially considering the state of the rest of the place." He said, and gestured around the room.

The boys were silent, John watched them carefully, Steve was scowling, while Brodin looked terrified.

"Watch them, I'm going to search that room, it's too clean." John said to Adam, while indicating to Sam to follow him.

John and Sam entered the room and closed the door behind them, they had a quick look around, "Way to clean for a hunting cabin." Sam murmured, agreeing with John, "Smells of cleaning fluid too."

"The question is, why did they need to clean this room so well?" John looked at Sam and grimaced. Neither man wanted to voice their inner thoughts, _had they arrived too late_.

Sam pulled his UV light out of his backpack and turned it on, John Ogilvie did the same, nothing was showing up.

"Way too clean!" John said again. "At least we know Trixie wasn't killed here, there would be some evidence of that, there is no way they could have gotten the room that clean. But right now we need proof that she was here in the first place. Brodin is ready to crack, we just need something to get him talking."

"You check under that bed, I'll check this one." John said to Sam indicating which bed he was going to look under.

John got down on the floor and shone his torch light under the bed, scratch marks along the wall showed up in the light, no doubt from the bed being moved and scraped along it numerous times, he stood back up and moved to the end of the bed, looking out the window. _Where are you Trixie? _He asked himself.

John sat down on the end of the bed, when suddenly he found himself being tipped into the wall. Sam laughed, the look on John's face had been comical as he slid into the wall.

"What's going on here?" John asked, and got down onto the floor again and looked under the bed, he noticed the missing bed leg, but also noticed something else, something that he hadn't been able to make out from the side of the bed, was now a lot clearer because he was closer.

"Sam, pull this bed out from the wall now!" he barked.

Sam did so, and John's light clearly shone on the letters scraped into the wall. _Trixie._

"Trixie!" John shouted, and pointed, "Look at that Sam, Miss Belden left us a message." John was smiling, that Trixie Belden was something else.

"She's one smart girl alright!" Sam exclaimed.

John walked over to the door and opened it, "Bring them in here." He said to the officers waiting in the main cabin.

Steve and Brodin were brought into the bedroom, and Joel showed them the writing on the wall. "Now, I'll ask you one more time. Where is Trixie Belden?"

Brodin was sniffing, he looked at Steve, then looked at John Ogilvie, he knew they had been found out, and he was glad, "We don't know, Dad took her into the woods, I think he was going to shoot her, but he hasn't come back." He said. "I didn't know he was going to do that, honestly I didn't."

"Shut up Brodin!" Steve yelled and tried to nudge his brother roughly with his arms, but the officer holding him stopped him.

"No Steve, what we did was wrong, what Dad's done is wrong! I never knew he meant to hurt her, he told me once he got the ransom he would let her go, I swear, or I would never have gone along with this in the first place." Brodin didn't care whether he went to prison or not anymore, he just wanted this to be over, "Dad's got her out there somewhere, please find her, I never wanted her to be hurt."

John Ogilvie shook Brodin and yelled. "How long ago did they leave?" he was frustrated, _please don't let us be too late._

"Yesterday morning, he left yesterday morning, and we haven't seen him since." Brodin cried out.

"Yesterday morning!" John Ogilvie sat back down on the bed, "Yesterday morning?" he repeated.

"Yes, yesterday morning, you're too late!" Steve finally snarled.

John grabbed Steve by the arm and dragged him back into the main cabin. "Why, you had the wrong girl, why couldn't you have just let her go?" he demanded.

"She knew too much!" Steve told him. "It's all Matthew Wheeler's fault, he cheated my Dad out of his family's Inn, and left us with nothing, and when Dad couldn't find another job, he was left with no choice, we needed the money or Brodin and I would have to drop out of college"

"Nothing! Matthew Wheeler offered your Dad a job managing the Inn, he turned it down!" Sam yelled at him.

"You're lying!" Steve yelled back, "He brought the Inn for way less than it was worth, and left Dad with a major debt over his head, we needed the money to get back on our feet."

"No, you're wrong! Your Dad has been lying to you, Matthew Wheeler was very generous in his offer to your Dad, I've seen the paperwork, he even gave your Dad money to pay for your college fees for the next year, your Dad spent the money drinking and gambling in the casino and visiting brothel's."

"I don't believe you!" Steve said. "Dad wouldn't do that to us."

"I'm afraid he did. And he borrowed money from a loan shark, money he lost gambling and wasn't able to pay back!" Sam stated matter of factly.

John could see Steve was having difficulty believing what Sam was telling him, but Brodin on the other hand didn't seem surprised.

"He always was a jerk! He treated our mother badly; I can believe you're telling the truth." Brodin said simply.

"Treated her badly? Both you and Mother are weak, always needing someone to tell you what to do, she deserved what she got, and so did you! You wait, Dad will be back soon, and when he finds out you turned traitor on him, you're going to be very sorry." Steve yelled at his brother.

"Get him out of here!" John Ogilvie shouted to Adam, who assigned two of his officers to take Steve Tuck back to the base camp, and then on to the waiting prison cell. "I want your men to go over this cabin with a fine tooth comb, find anything you can to indicate where Joel may have taken Trixie."

"Right Chief!" he said, and got onto the task right away.

"What are we going to do?" Sam asked John.

"Are you sure you have no idea where your Dad would have taken her?" John asked Brodin again.

"No, I don't, he knows these woods well, he spent a lot of time up here, I've never enjoyed hunting, I don't usually come on the hunting trips." Brodin said sadly. "I really am sorry, I never knew what his real intentions were, I didn't want to go along with his plan, but he threatened to hurt Mom if I didn't, I had to protect her."

John just looked at Brodin sadly and nodded. "We all have to make choices in life son, unfortunately you made the wrong one." John turned to Sam and said. "Let's head back to base, we're going to need to call in a search and rescue team."

John and Sam started back to the base camp, marching Brodin Tuck between them, with his brother gone, Brodin was happy to talk, telling them everything he knew, which unfortunately wasn't much.

Once Steve and Brodin had been taken away, John called the Bob-Whites and parents in to bring them up to speed.

"Who were those two boys you took away? Where's Trixie? What's going on Chief?" They were all demanding answers from him. He held his hand up, and waited for silence, "I'll tell you what we know so far, and then I'll answer your questions if I can."

"The two boys were Steve and Brodin Tuck, Joel Tuck's sons. We found them alone at the cabin. Brodin has confessed to kidnapping Trixie. Unfortunately, Trixie wasn't at the cabin with them when we arrived, yesterday Steve Tuck drove to the General Store and purchased a newspaper, that's when they realised they had the wrong girl." John told them.

"Where's Trixie now? Where's Joel?"

"We don't know," John answered, and took a deep breath, the next part was going to be hard, very hard. "Joel took Trixie into the woods early yesterday morning with the intention of … with the intention of disposing of her." John was unable to look any of them in the eye, he had failed. If only he hadn't wasted so much time following up the wrong leads. He knew for certain now, Jim's stepfather had nothing to do with Trixie's abduction, if only the time spent investigating him had been spent on Joel Tuck, they would have gotten here sooner, soon enough to save Trixie.

Helen Belden fainted. Honey and Di clung to each other openly sobbing. Dan, Jim and Mart looked at each other, and moved closer to each other in a huddle, tears running down their faces unchecked. Peter rushed to his wife's side, gathering her in his arms holding her close. Matthew and Madeleine Wheeler hugged each other, Brian Belden stood alone watching Chief Ogilvie, the constant swallowing of his Adam's apple, indicating the immense emotional outburst he was barely managing to contain.

"Now what Chief" Brian asked, in a husky quiet voice.

"Now we call in a Wilderness Search and Rescue team." John answered him.

"I'm going in there to look for her!" Jim stated, "She needs me!"

"Jim, you're not going anywhere, none of you are to set foot in that forest, do I make myself clear, I've already had this talk with you, and I don't want to repeat myself. Joel Tuck is armed and dangerous. The search and Rescue team will have proper protective gear, you don't. If you take one step into that forest I will arrest you!" John told him forcefully. "The fact that Joel hasn't returned gives me reason to believe Trixie is still alive out there somewhere, we will find her."

**Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think. **


	34. Chapter 34

**Hope you all enjoy this chapter, the creative juices aren't flowing are quickly today, sorry!**

**CHAPTER 34**

Holed up in her little cave, Trixie was feeling cold, it might have been the middle of summer, but the tree canopy and the rain was making the air cold, but at least for now, her thirst had been quenched somewhat. _I wonder how much further I have to go, I haven't gone as far as I would have liked, the undergrowth, hills and cliffs that I've had to go over are slowing me down. I can't believe Jim did this for two weeks! It's only been two days and I'm already tired, and worn out. _

Trixie had never really thought about what Jim had gone through on his journey to Sleepyside, she knew the basic's, he had run away from Jonesy and made it to sleepyside, but she had never really tried to understand just how hard it must have been for him, been alone, going without the basic's, not knowing just how far behind him Jonesy was, knowing what he would do to Jim if he caught him. Trixie's tender heart ached for Jim and all he had gone through, she marvelled at the man he had become, he hadn't let the abuse he suffered at Jonesy hands change him for the worse, instead he had stayed true to himself, and all that his father and mother had taught him.

Trixie had thought him the most wonderful boy in the world, when she first met him, and she hadn't really known him then, not really, now it was three years later, and nothing had happened during that time to change her opinion, yes he was stubborn, proud, and even had a bit of temper, but his inner most qualities, his loyalty, kindness, and respect, the things that made him 'Jim', hadn't changed. _How could someone like Jim ever be interested in me?_ She wondered to herself, vowing that she would let him know just how much she admired him, and all he had accomplished as soon as she got home.

She thought about her family, especially her parents, she knew they weren't happy with her ambition to be a detective, but they had never tried to stop her, or talk her out of it, instead they supported her quietly. Even Mart and Brian, had supported her, Mart going along with her plans openly encouraging her, while Brian's support had been more subtle, questioning her, putting up roadblocks, not to stop her, but to make her slow down and think. Trixie groaned thinking about all the times she had put Honey and herself in danger because she had been impulsive, acting recklessly, then Jim or Brian had lectured her, she had hated those lectures, even though she knew it was because they cared, but now she realised they were also helping her, teaching her, encouraging her.

_Things are going to be different when I get home,_ she vowed to herself.

Joel Tuck had been following Trixie's tracks, but now the rain was making everything muddy and it was just about impossible to tell where she had gone, he had realised though, she was heading East, he had been keeping track of her direction using the compass on his hunting watch, he was grudgingly impressed, as far as he knew she didn't have a compass, he wondered was it a fluke or did she really know what she was doing. He pulled his heavy hunting jacket tighter around him, it wasn't waterproof, but it was doing a decent job so far. He would keep going for another hour, and then find somewhere to hole up for the night, it would be dark by then.

Later that night, Jim rose from the stretcher he had been given and walked silently out of the tent, he made his way over to the forest edge.

"Where you going Jim?" a voice asked somewhere in the dark.

Jim jumped, before whirling around to find the source, finally spotting Sam standing off to the side.

"Nowhere." He said.

"Really, cos it sure looked like you were planning on heading in there." Sam said pointing into the forest.

"What if Joel returns to the cabin?" Jim asked him.

"Jim, we have officers stationed in the cabin and all around it, waiting for him, he isn't going to get away. I can't let you go in there, you know that don't you?" Sam looked at Jim intently. "I know this must be hard for all of you, but you need to stay put, we don't need anyone else lost in there, or anyone else getting hurt." Sam told him gently. "When the search and Rescue teams arrive, they need to be focused on finding Trixie, not finding Trixie, _and_ whoever else decides to go wandering around in there."

"I know your right Sam, I do, it's just so frustrating, being so close, and yet not been able to do anything, she's been in there for two days, she could be hurt, who knows what that scumbag has done to her, and it's been raining all afternoon, she's probably soaked to the bone!" Jim replied.

"C'mon Jim, you know Trixie better than that, she's your number one pupil remember? You've taught her how to look after herself in the woods, how to build a shelter, I bet she's just fine." It was Brian, and with him was his father.

"Brian's right Jim, Trixie's smart, she'll be using everything you've taught her." Peter said, hoping his words were true.

"Go on Jim, go back to the tent and get out of this rain. The search and rescue teams will be arriving tomorrow morning, it won't be long now." Sam said encouragingly to him.

Resigned Jim returned with Brian and Peter to the tent, but his mind was far away, it was somewhere out in the forest, wherever Trixie was, hoping she was okay, wishing he had spared just a little bit more time to teach her more survival skills.

Trixie's thoughts were more pleasantly occupied; she was going over all the 'lessons' in her mind. When Jim had first suggested teaching the Bob-Whites survival tactics, she had enthusiastically agreed, not because she thought she would ever need to use them, but because it would mean more time with Jim, she had practiced hard to do everything he had taught, because afterwards he would smile at her with the crooked grin she loved so much, Trixie fell asleep with Jim's smile still blazing in her mind.

She woke the next morning, and checked the time it was 7:18am, she had slept longer than she intended, feeling chilled to the bone, she dragged herself out of her makeshift cave, it had stopped raining. Trixie quickly found which direction was East and started walking, the ground was still wet and quite muddy in places, making progress slow and difficult, but Trixie was determined to keep going.

Joel Tuck had been walking for almost an hour already when the sun starting to peek through the trees, he had lost Trixie's tracks last night just before he found somewhere to sleep out of the rain, but he had used his compass and kept heading East.

He saw a movement up ahead of him and starting moving quicker, wanting to be sure it was her; finally he recognised the flash of her blue sweatshirt and raised his gun.

Trixie had no idea that Joel had caught up to her, she was distracted, her throat was feeling scratchy and sore, and her joints were aching, she realised she'd caught a chill, and wondered what else could go wrong.

Joel sighted Trixie through the scope on his gun and placed his finger on the trigger, he moved to get a clearer shot, but his foot slid in the mud and he fell to the ground, hitting his head on a protruding tree root. Joel Tuck was out cold.

Trixie carried on, unaware just how close Joel Tuck had been.

Back at the Base Camp, everyone was up, there had been no sight of Joel Tuck overnight, and John wondered if he was close by in the woods watching them, waiting to make his move, he cautioned the men stationed by the perimeter of the camp to be extra vigilant.

He wondered if he had made the right decision allowing the Bob-Whites to stay at the base camp, was he putting them in danger, what if Joel recognised one of the Wheelers. John decided to talk to Peter and Matthew and stress the need for all of them to stay in the tent, and not move around in the open.

The Search and Rescue teams arrived around mid-morning, with them was Jake Summit. He had been at Headquarters when the call came through, and when he heard who they were searching for he had insisted that he and his team be assigned to the search. The Bob-Whites and their parents had been happy to see a familiar face.

By late morning, they were ready to head into the forest, they had been divided into four teams, two would enter the forest at the same point as Joel and Trixie, and other two teams would enter thirty miles either side of the cabin, the teams would work towards each other. They felt it unlikely that Joel or Trixie would have covered thirty miles in the two days they had been missing, especially considering the terrain and the conditions.

Trixie had been walking at a steady pace for a few hours, when she came across a steep incline, she had tried to go around it, but it stretched for quite a way on either side, and she didn't want to waste time going sideways, she managed to get half her body to the top, but lost her grip and fell back down, landing heavily on her feet, and a sharp stab of pain shot through her left foot.

Trixie sat stunned, the pain bringing tears to her eyes. _Now what do I do?_ She muttered angrily to herself, and thumped the ground next to her. She had lost track of how long she sat there, when she heard a noise close by.

Jake and his team had been searching for almost 2 hours. They were spread out, one would call out, then wait, if no reply was heard, the next person in the row would take his turn. They were walking slowly making sure to cover as much ground as possible.

"TRIXE! TRIXIE! TRIXIE!" the call went out.

"Help, over here!" Jake could only just make out the words faintly, he turned to his nearest companion to see if he had heard the reply, when he got a thumbs up, they called out again.

"HELLO! KEEP CALLING SO WE CAN FIND YOU!" Galvanised into action they moved forward quickly following the answering call.

"Over here! Hurry!" came back, over and over.

Jake and his men pushed through a dense portion of undergrowth and came out into a small clearing.

Jake Summit had found Joel Tuck.

**Thanks for reading, please review!**


	35. Chapter 35

**CHAPTER 35**

"Where's Trixie" Jake Summit asked.

"Who?" Joel Tuck replied

"Trixie Belden, where is she?" Jake demanded.

"I don't know, who you're talking about," Joel answered him, "I was out here hunting deer, when I slipped in the mud and knocked myself out."

Jake could see a fairly deep looking cut on the side of Joel's head, plus a very large bump and bruising on his forehead, as a search and rescue officer he had been taught how to recognise signs of head trauma and Joel Tuck certainly looked like a man who was suffering the after effects, and yet Jake didn't feel sorry for him, not one bit.

"Tuck, cut the bull, and tell me Trixie is!" Jake shouted.

"I don't know any Trixie's, I wish I could help you, but I can't." Joel answered him.

"Your sons have confessed to helping you kidnap her, now where is she?" Jake demanded again.

Jake was watching Joel Tuck's face as he told him about his son's, he saw the look of shock cross his face quickly followed by anger.

"Those useless swine's! I should have known!" Joel snarled. "She's dead. I shot her."

Jake Summit had been a Search and Rescue Officer for nearly fifteen years, and he had dealt with a lot of people during that time, but never had he felt the urge to punch someone in the face, as he felt it now, with Joel Tuck.

"Where's her body then?" he asked again.

"Somewhere back in there," Joel gestured behind him, "somewhere you'll never find her!"

Jake Summit felt sick to his stomach, he wanted to unleash his rage on Joel Tucks face, but knew he had a job to do, he had to take Tuck back to base camp where Ogilvie could question him, hopefully Ogilvie could get him to talk, and they could find Trixie's body, he knew her family wouldn't have closure until she was returned to them.

"I hope they give you the electric chair!" Jake snarled at him, before handcuffing him, and setting up the makeshift stretcher in his backpack. He motioned for Carl, his 2nd in command to take over the search, and for Glen one of the junior members of his team to help him carry Joel back to base camp. Jake radioed ahead to let them know they had found Tuck, but there had been no sign of Trixie, he didn't tell Ogilvie what Tuck had said him, he knew the Belden's and the Bob-Whites would be somewhere close-by Ogilvie listening in to everything, and he didn't want them to hear that over the radio. Once he was done, Jake and Glen started the long March back to base camp, carrying Joel Tuck.

Trixie sat perfectly still, waiting to see who or what had made the noise she could hear, had Joel caught up to her, she knew she was in no position to fight him, the chill she had caught was causing her body to ache, and now she wondered if she had broken her ankle with the amount of pain she was in.

As the noise got closer, Trixie realised it was something rustling in the undergrowth, most likely a small animal and she waited, sure enough a skunk soon came wondering out of the undergrowth. Trixie remained still; there was no way she wanted to be wearing that particular cologne when she made it out.

After a few minutes she was able to breathe a sigh of relief, the skunk had moved on, taking no notice of her at all. Trixie looked around and saw a long branch that had fallen from a tree close by, she crawled over carefully, trying not to knock her sore foot and slowly removed the small twigs and leaves from it, after some time, it was ready, Trixie used the branch as a crutch and got to her feet.

She still needed to get up where she had fallen down, this time she would make sure she had a good grip on the tree roots that were exposed at the top, she threw her makeshift crutch up, and only using her good leg, she managed a sort of crawl/hop until she was finally on top of the incline. Trixie sat and took stock of her situation.

She had a chill, her joints were aching, her throat felt raw, and dry, most likely due to thirst as well as the cold she was developing, she was hungry, she was sure right at that moment, she could out eat even Mart. Her hands were blistered and raw in some places, bleeding slightly, and now she either had a sprained or broken ankle, she didn't feel anything snap, but it had happened so quickly she couldn't be sure, _I wish Brian was here!_ She thought to herself.

She had to do something about her ankle, she remembered not so long ago, Di had thought she had sprained her ankle while the three girls had been taking a walk in the preserve, and they hadn't known what to do, fortunately it had only been a mild twist, and Di had been able to walk out of the preserve with them, all be it very slowly.

When they had gotten back, Brian had shown them how to treat a sprained ankle without bandages. Trixie slowly removed her sneaker and peeked down her sock at her ankle, trying not to jolt her foot, it was already swelling and she could see a bruise developing. She took of her sweatshirt and then her T-Shirt, she folded the T-Shirt up making it long and straight, then wrapped it around her foot and ankle, and used the shoe lace from her sneaker to tie it in place. Once she was done, she put her sweatshirt back on, grabbed her crutch and got back to her feet. The pain wasn't so bad now with the added support around her ankle, and she was able to start moving East again. _I must remember to thank Brian when I get home!_

The walk back to base camp took the rest of the afternoon, Joel had been sullen, and kept needing to stop and rest due to the pain in his head, Jake would rather have kept going, he didn't particular care how sick or sore Joel Tuck was, but he knew what protocol called for, and he wasn't going to lose his job because of this scumbag.

Finally they reached base camp not long before dusk. An Ambulance had been on standby since the base camp had been set up, and the medics rushed over to take care of Joel Tuck. John Ogilvie was there too, followed closely by the Bob-Whites and Parents.

Joel was surprised to see Matthew Wheeler and his family, _I guess they really did care about the girl_, he thought to himself.

"Where is she Tuck, where's Trixie?" Matthew asked him before John Ogilvie had a chance to say anything.

Joel could see the concern and anguish on Matthew's face, as well as his wife's and children's, he figured the others that were present were the girls family, and he laughed to himself, _I may not have gotten Matt's daughter, but at least he is still suffering._

Joel forced himself to his feet, his hands still handcuffed together, and he stared Matthew Wheeler straight in the eye.

"I shot her Matt, right between the eyes, but not before we got to know each other better, a lot better!" he laughed viciously.

The group surrounding Joel Tuck was shocked and stunned. John Ogilvie seasoned FBI Agent, was struggling to control his emotions.

"You sick bastard!" Matthew screamed at him. "She wasn't even my daughter, you grabbed the wrong girl!" and he lunged at Joel Tuck.

John had been expecting that ever since they heard Jake had found Joel Tuck, and his men were on standby, one of them caught Matthew before he got to Joel, they moved in front of all the males from Sleepyside stopping them from attacking Joel Tuck.

No one was watching Honey Wheeler though, as she stepped forward and delivered a resounding slap across Joel Tuck's face before anyone could stop her.

Joel reeled back from the slap and shook his head, causing the pain he already felt to intensify, "She assaulted me, I want her arrested!" he yelled at Chief Ogilvie.

"No one touched you." John said back quietly. "Did anyone here see anything?" he asked the group.

Everyone shook their head, "No, didn't see a thing." They all said.

"I think you're feeling confused, probably because of that head injury you have, you'd better be careful or you might 'trip', causing more damage!" John snarled at him.

"You won't get away with this!" Joel yelled, "I want a lawyer."

"Get him out of here!" John shouted. "Sam, you go with him, find out where Trixie is, I don't care what you have to do to get the information, just find out where she is!"

"You'll never find her body, it's well hidden." Joel Tuck laughed as he was led away.

"NOOOO!" Jim yelled, coming out of the shocked state he was in. "NO! Not Trixie, please not Trixie!" And he started running towards the forest, where Jake had just come from.

John's men grabbed him and held him tight, Jim kicked and tried to fight but it was useless, and he was only wearing himself out, eventually he collapsed to the ground exhausted.

Peter and Helen, stood shocked, they had always known it was a possibility their little girl wouldn't come home, but they had refused to believe it, their minds couldn't comprehend what they had just heard, the pain and the suffering that monster had inflicted on her, before killing her in cold blood.

Matthew Wheeler stood, silently, tears streaming down his face, guilt washing over him in waves,_ if only I hadn't brought his business, if only I had checked him out properly, if only, if only, if only._

Madeleine Wheeler put her arms around her daughter and held her close, crying along with her, she felt the pain Honey felt, Trixie had made such an impact on their life's in the short time they had known her, she had turned Honey's life around, she was no longer the sickly pale child she had always been, now she was strong, independent and courageous, and most importantly for Madeleine, she had brought the two of them together, now Madeleine had a relationship with Honey, and it was because of Trixie.

Di stood sobbing, and Mart came over to put his arms around her, holding her, comforting her, she put her arms around him, holding him close, comforting him back, as he cried for his sister, his almost twin, his best friend.

Brian stood still, he didn't know what to do, he thought about the times Trixie had gotten into trouble in the past, and he had been there to rescue her, and to lecture her, but now when she had needed him the most, he had failed, he hadn't been able to save her, he would never be able to save her again.

Dan walked over to Brian and put his hand on his shoulder, just standing next to him, offering him the small amount of comfort he could under the circumstances, while the tears run down his own face. He had cared about Trixie, a lot. When he had first met her, she had riled him up the wrong way, jumping to conclusions and making accusations, but he had soon learned her heart was in the right place, and he had admired her spunk.

Finally John Ogilvie spoke, "C'mon let's get back to the tent."

As one they all turned and headed towards the tent they had been assigned, John sighed deeply, the fact that no one protested indicated just how upset they were by the news they had heard.

Jake spoke quietly to John, "I'm going back out there, I don't care what he said, I'm going to find her body and bring her home," he turned and looked at Trixie's family and friends as they headed to their tent, heads down, their pain evident, and he continued. "They need it, we all need it."

John nodded, his guilt was burning in his stomach too, he had failed Trixie, he'd wasted time looking in the wrong direction, if it wasn't for Honey, he'd still be looking in the wrong place, maybe it was time for him to retire.

As Jake headed back into the forest, John Ogilvie went to join everyone in the tent, the police psychologist who had been stationed at the camp since the beginning, was already there talking to Trixie's family, offering comfort and support. It was going to be a long night.

Trixie had travelled as far as she could with her crutch, her cold had been steadily getting worse and now her nose was running too, breathing was difficult due to the pain in her throat. Finally she decided she had enough for the day, she slowly wove branches together and made herself a shelter. she crawled inside and fell asleep quickly, overcome by exhaustion.

**Usual disclaimer, hope you all enjoy this chapter, it was a hard one to write. **


	36. Chapter 36

**CHAPTER 36**

John Ogilvie was right, it was a long night, the four search teams that were out, came back for the night, while four others took their place; they had been informed they were searching for a body somewhere in the 60 mile radius they had set up, thirty to the east and thirty to the west.

One of the search teams reported finding a bed leg of all things in the middle of the forest, and there was a trace of blood on it, although the heavy downpour had probably washed most of it away. John Ogilvie smiled to himself remembering what had happened in the cabin, and then finding Trixie's name scratched into the wooden skirting board, he wouldn't be surprised if that was how Joel Tuck got at least one of his head injuries. _Good on you Trixie!_ He thought to himself, _if only I had gotten here sooner and saved you from all of this._

At some point during the night the Bob-White males had gotten up, they wanted to go out and help search for Trixie, but John had refused to let them, instead he had gotten them talking, John had learned just how busy Trixie had been, not only before he first met her, but afterwards, although he was a bit surprised at just how gullible she and Honey had been with the Antique Doll Mystery, ending with her and Honey along with the rest of the Bob-Whites tied up by counterfeiters. Jim insisted Trixie had grown up a lot since then, and was less impulsive.

-00—00—

Sometime during the night, Trixie woke shivering. She knew she was in danger of developing hypothermia along with her head cold, and that was something she didn't need, she dragged herself out of her makeshift home, and started pacing back and forth as best she could with her crutch to warm herself up. She was tired, but she couldn't risk going back to sleep cold.

Finally dawn starting peeking through the trees again, another day, _day four_ , she thought to herself as she set off again heading East, wondering how much further she had to go, and whether she would make it.

-00—00—

As the sun slowly rose over the trees at the base camp, the rest of the Sleepysiders arose, they couldn't believe they had fallen asleep and slept that long, considering the shock of yesterday, but then no one had slept properly for a week and a half now, and with all the grief and emotional outbursts that had happened the night before, it wasn't surprising that they had finally fallen asleep, exhausted.

"Peter, can I talk to you?" Matthew asked his friend.

Peter nodded his head, and the two of them took a walk, away from everyone else.

"I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am about all of this, I wish I had done things with that scumbag so differently, I know I can never replace Trixie, but if there is anything, anything I can do, please don't hesitate to ask." Matthew finished on a sob.

"I won't pretend that I'm not wishing you had acted differently as well, but you weren't to know just how evil that man was, and we all messed up, we were so busy looking for Trixie's past enemies no one thought to look anywhere else until it was too late. I'm a bank manager Matt, I've been dealing with a lot of people lately who have lost everything because of this recession, I should have thought of that myself, I have to share some of the fault too." Peter looked sadly at Matthew Wheeler, "I just don't know how I'm going to get my family through this! Helen's devastated, I know Brian's trying hard to keep his emotions in check, I'm worried what will happen when he cracks, Mart's recalling all the things he's said or done to Trixie in the past, and wishing he had been a better big brother, and Bobby just adores Trixie, he's …" Peter stopped, struggling to choke back his sobs.

"I'm wondering the same, I'm worried about Honey, she knows she was supposed to be one kidnapped, she wishes she could take Trixie's place, the guilt is just eating her up. And Jim, I know we told them to wait until Trixie was older to start dating, we both thought it was just a crush and they would move past it, but it wasn't, and now I'm worried Jim how he will recover from this." Matthew said to Peter, through his own tears.

"We'll get through this together Matthew, for all our kid's sakes!" Peter told him, sounding more confident than he actually felt.

Together the two men walked back to the main camp area, looking for their families and friends, hoping they could keep it together long enough to help the ones they loved.

"John, there's someone here at the cordon who wants to be allowed through." A voice came through the base radio later that morning. "He says he's a police sergeant from Sleepyside, Wendell Mollison."

"Let him through." John Ogilvie replied.

Five minutes later Wendell Mollison arrived and joined Trixie's family and friends.

"Peter, I'm so sorry, I had to come, when I heard what had happened, I let you down, I let you all down, I'm so sorry." Wendell told the assembled group, tears in his eyes.

"Thank you." Peter managed to choke out before tears fell from eyes again.

John Ogilvie had come over to meet the sergeant, and they shook hands solemnly.

"What's happening now?" Wendell asked him.

"We have teams out searching in a 30 mile radius either side of the cabin they held her in, although Tuck was found 27 miles to the East, so we are thinking she's somewhere in the Eastern side of the search area." John told him. "He claims he hid her body well, cadaver dogs are arriving later. We've had sniffer dogs out, but the heavy rains have washed away any scent, making things difficult."

Wendell just nodded, there was so much he wanted to say and do, but couldn't it wasn't his place, and he had already messed up this investigation by jumping to the wrong conclusions about the kidnappers in the first place._ Trixie must have rubbed off on me after all; jumping to conclusions was her forte_. He smiled sadly to himself, how he would love the chance to lecture her again.

The day wore on, the boys tried unsuccessfully to get John Ogilvie to change his mind and allow them to join the search, but he insisted they stay put; finally Matthew took him aside and asked why they couldn't join the search.

"Matthew, you heard what Joel said he did to her, do you really want those kids to see her in that condition? We have no idea where he left her, or what we're gonna find, it's not something they should have to see. In fact, I think you should all leave, being here isn't good for them, for any of you, you're all tired, and nerves are worn, I've got my men keeping a close eye on Jim and Brian, I'm sure either one of them is going to make a break for the forest any time soon, and we can't risk anyone else getting lost in there. I don't want to order you to leave, but I will if I have too." John answered him. "I'm sorry Matthew, but that's the way it is."

"Your right, I hadn't thought about it, I don't want them seeing Trixie like that, and I'm sure Peter wouldn't either. Maybe it's time we did leave; it's going to be hard though getting them to agree." Matthew answered him, knowing Jim at least would refuse, and he was pretty sure he wouldn't be the only one. "I'll talk to Peter, and get back to you."

Peter didn't want to leave either, but when Matthew pointed out to him the effect of seeing Trixie's body could have on the rest of the Bob-Whites, or on Helen and Madeleine, he finally agreed that perhaps it would be the best idea, but he didn't want to go back to Sleepyside, not yet, not without Trixie.

"We can go to our penthouse in New York, it's only an hour's drive from here. I'll leave Ogilvie with the apartment number, and the number to the phone in my car, he'll be able to contact us if anything happens." Matthew assured Peter.

Together they went to talk to the rest of their group. As predicted the boys immediately refused to leave, and again asked to be allowed to join in the search. The girls didn't want to leave either, but would do as they were asked, Helen and Madeleine felt the same. Matthew and Peter asked them to go and pack up what little they had brought with them while they talked to the boys.

"Why are you making us leave? I can't believe you want to go while Trixie's still out there somewhere!" Jim shouted.

"Jim, if we don't go, Ogilvie's going to have us removed." Matthew told him, hoping that would get Jim to agree.

"Why won't he let us help look?" Brian asked.

Matthew and Peter looked at each other; this was going to be hard. "He doesn't want you to see Trixie's body when they find it, we don't know what condition that monster left her in, it's just not something any of you need to see." Matthew started explaining, "especially not your mothers or Honey and Di."

"We need to get them out of here before that happens, and when word comes that they've found Trixie, the girls are going to need you boys to be around, right now there is nothing more we can do for Trixie, and she would want you all together, helping and comforting one another." Peter continued.

One by one the boys agreed, realising that the fathers were right, all except for Jim, he still refused to leave, he wanted to stay, he needed to be close to Trixie. In the end John Ogilvie was called in, and he told Jim, that if he didn't leave with his family, he would have to have him arrested, that he was slowing the search down, because men had to be stationed to watch _him_ instead of searching. It wasn't quite true, but John didn't mind playing the bad guy, he was sure he was doing the right thing for Jim.

Eventually they were ready to leave, it was almost dusk, Jim looked back at the forest sadly, before turning towards the Bob-White wagon, his hand shook as he tried to unlock the door, Dan, seeing this, came and took the keys from him. "I'll drive." He said, and directed Jim to the back seat.

The parents sat in the car in front, waiting till the Bob-Whites were ready before they pulled out, and started the drive back to New York.

-00—00-

It had been a long day, walking was difficult over uneven terrain with a crutch, and now the sun was setting, Trixie was exhausted, everything ached, the cold she was struggling with was making breathing difficult, and hunger pains were cramping her stomach. She just wanted to go to sleep and stay asleep, but she didn't even have the energy to try and build herself shelter for the night.

She slumped down against a tree and sobbed. She had tried to stay positive, but it had been getting harder and harder as the day wore on.

_Oh Jim, please help me, please help me_! She sobbed over and over in her head.

-00—00-

Jim had fallen asleep, the lull of the moving car, along with exhaustion had finally overtaken him, memories of Trixie, playing through his mind.

_Jim, Jim please help me, please help me!_

Jim woke with a start, "Dan stop the car, stop now!" he ordered. "Trixie's calling me!"

As Dan slow the car and pulled over, Brian turned to face Jim, "Jim you were asleep, you were dreaming, we're in a moving car, no one else heard her calling, Jim, I'm sorry, we all are, but you couldn't have heard her."

Jim wasn't listening, he jumped out of the car and ran to the side of the road "Trixie" he yelled, "Trixie!"

The rest of the Bobwhites got out of the car and joined him, not knowing what to do. Matthew, seeing the Bob-White wagon had pulled over, stopped and reversed back, and they too joined the Bob-Whites on the side of the road.

"Trixie, Trixie, where are you Trixie!" Jim yelled.

_Now I'm hearing voices! _Trixie thought to herself disgustedly.

"Help me call her!" Jim demanded, "Help me!"

"Trixie! Trixie!" Honey started shouting with Jim, it felt good, the frustration, sadness and pain from the last 11 days had welled up inside her and she threw everything into yelling. "Trixie! Trixie!"

One by one, the other Bobwhite's joined in, they were _all for one, and one for all. _Peter and Helen wrapped their arms around each other, the sadness inside them was overwhelming, but they also felt gratitude, knowing their daughter had been so loved by her friends, and they joined in.

"Trixie, Trixie." They all shouted over and over.

_Those voices are getting louder!_ Trixie thought to herself, I must be going crazy, she struggled to her feet, and stumbled on, towards the voices she could hear. They were getting clearer, it sounded like her name, _could it be?_ Trixie stopped, _what if it's Joel or his son's?_ She froze in fear, what should she do?

Jim's voice had become nothing more than a whisper, and he could hear the voices of the others starting to fail too, and he grimaced sadly. Suddenly a memory came to mind, of the flash flood in Iowa, when their voices had been hoarse and they weren't able to shout anymore, Trixie had started whistling _bob bobwhite, bob bobwhite. _

By now the all Bob-whites had stopped yelling their voices hoarse, when they heard Jim start whistling, _bob bobwhite, bob bobwhite_, they smiled and joined in, what a fitting send off to their beloved sister and friend, _bob bobwhite, bob bobwhite!_.

Lost in the forest, undecided on what to do, Trixie waited, then she heard clearly _bob bobwhite, bob bobwhite!_ Tears of relief coursing down her cheeks, _he found me, Jim found me!_ Trixie starting moving forwards again, cursing her sore throat and her inability to reply.

No one knows how long they stood there whistling until even that was impossible any more, voices hoarse, throats raw, they all stopped, and looked at each other sadly.

"Jim, she's not here, we need to go, c'mon son, please we need to go." Matt tried to help his son up from the side of the road, he could see Jim was emotionally distraught, he was determined he would get Jim the help he needed to deal with Trixie's death.

Jim allowed himself to be led back to the car, he had no energy left to fight, and he slumped in the back seat crying freely. The rest of the bobwhites got in, and Dan started the car, "Don't stop again", Matthew told him, "the sooner we get away from here the better." He felt that being in the area that Trixie was murdered was making things harder for Jim.

Dan nodded, and waited for Matthew to return to the front car, before pulling out to follow them back to New York.

_NO! NO! NO!_ Trixie cried in her head, the whistling had stopped, she stood still and listened, hoping for something , a sign to lead her on. Then she heard the sound of car doors slamming_, I must be close, please wait, please wait,_ she begged over and over, stumbling forward as fast as she could, on one leg and a crutch.

She heard the sounds of car engines starting, and saw the lights through the trees, she was almost there, she could make it, she was sure.

Then the cars drove off.

Trixie broke through the tree's and found herself on the side of a road, she looked up and saw the car lights in the distance, driving away from her over a rise and out of sight, sobbing she fell to the ground silently yelling _come back, come back!_


	37. Chapter 37

**CHAPTER 37**

In the back of the Bob-White wagon, Jim sat, tears running down his face, painful spasms wracking through his chest, he felt as though he had left part of himself behind, lost in the forest. He closed his eyes and took a deep painful breath and vowed. _I'll be back Trixie, I'll be back and I won't quit until I've found you, I promise!_

Then he turned back to look at the woods that hid his special girl, in the dim light he saw a figure stumble out of the trees, before collapsing on the road, then the sight was lost as the car travelled down the other side of the small rise they were on.

"Stop!" he whispered hoarsely, his voice still recovering, "Stop!"

Brian looked at Dan, then looked back at Jim, "Jim, we need to keep going, it's getting dark and …"

Jim lunged forward and threw his arms around Dan, pinning him to the seat, making it difficult for him to drive the car safely, he had no choice but to slow down and bring the car to a halt.

"Jim, what are you doing?" "Are you trying to kill us all?" "Stop it Jim, please let him go." Various Bob-Whites said, but Jim wasn't paying attention, as soon as the car came to a stop he was out, running back up the hill they had just descended.

Shocked the rest of the Bob-Whites sat in silence, before finally Brian spoke. "You guys wait here for our parents, I'll go after Jim." Then Brian too was gone, running back up the hill.

Jim had reached the top of the hill, but the sun had almost set now, and he couldn't see what he was looking for in the distance, but he was sure she was there, _he could feel it_, and he started to run.

Matthew Wheeler had been keeping an eye in the rear vision mirror, they had been travelling on a windy part of the road, and he had lost sight of the Bob-White wagon, finally they were on a straight again, he slowed down to wait for them to catch up, when they didn't appear, he looked over at Peter, who had also been watching for them. "We better go back and check they're okay."

By now Brian had also reached the top of the hill, he could just make out Jim's figure running back the way they had come, he too broke into a run, he hoped Jim didn't run into the forest, because there would be no way he could find him in the dark.

Matthew had turned the car around and headed back, after driving for a couple of minutes they had found the Bob-White wagon parked on the side of the road, and he pulled in behind them, Dan had gotten out of the car and walked back to tell them what had happened.

"Madeleine, you and Helen go with the kids back to the penthouse, Peter and I will get Brian and Jim." Matthew said.

Once Madeleine and Helen were safely in the Bobwhite car, Matthew again turned the car around and headed back up over the rise, wondering just how he was going to get Jim into the car if he refused.

"He would have made a great son-in –law." Peter said quietly, knowing Matthew would understand who he was talking about.

"Yes he would have, and we would have been proud to have Trixie as our daughter-in-law." Matthew told him sincerely.

By now Jim had almost reached Trixie, she had vaguely heard someone running, but she had been too emotionally spent for it really register, it wasn't until someone gathered her into their arms and started whispering her name over and over. She opened her eyes, and looked straight into Jim's, finally she had made it home, she was safe!

"Honey," she whispered, "We have to save Honey."

Jim gathered her closer, hugging her tight; it was just like Trixie to worry about others before herself. "Honey's fine Trixie, she's fine." He murmured, before kissing Trixie gently on the forehead.

Brian had seen Jim fall to the ground on the side of the road, and he slowed down, giving himself time to think about what he was going to say and do once he reached Jim, he heard a car coming up the road behind him, and as the light shone on Jim's back, Brian realised his legs were sticking out in an odd angle. _Oh, No! He's hurt himself. _Brian thought before picking up his speed again.

As the car behind got closer, and the light brighter, Brian realised two things, they couldn't possibly be Jim's leg he could see, and there was a patch of blonde curly hair peeking over Jim's shoulder. _Could it be?_ Brian picked up his pace, when he got level with Jim's shoulder he looked down, and fell to his knees, "Trixie!" he said before throwing his arms around his best friend and his sister, sobbing, Brian Belden had finally lost control of his emotions.

In the car, Matthew and Peter had seen Brian first, walking to catch up with Jim, who could be seen in the distance sitting on the side of the road, then Brian had broken into a run before joining Jim on the ground.

Matthew pulled the car up behind the boys and turned the lights onto dim. He didn't want to blind anyone. Both he and Peter took a deep breath before getting out of the car, wondering what they could possibly say and do to make things easier.

As they walked towards the boys, Peter realised he could hear Brian sobbing, and he stopped, he had been waiting for it to happen, and now it finally had, and he was still none the wiser as to how he would help him.

Matthew had carried on walking and was now in front of the boys, the sight he saw, brought tears to his eyes, "Peter!" he cried, but it came out as nothing more than a whisper, "Peter!" he tried again and pointed.

Peter heard Matthew the second time, and could see the shocked looked on his face, he wondered what Matthew was pointing too and finally started moving to join the group. As Peter Belden walked to stand next to Matthew Wheeler he looked down at his son, it took only a second for him to register Jim and Brian had their arms around someone, _no not someone_, "TRIXIE!" He cried, falling to the ground.

Trixie heard her father's cry and turned her head slowly, opening her eyes, "Daddy!" She whispered.

Peter reached out his hand and touched Trixie gently, he wanted to be sure she was real, that she was really there, alive.

Matthew Wheeler was struggling to contain his emotions, his feelings of guilt had been threatening to overpower him, but now looking at Trixie Belden, he felt gratitude, and relief, he knew without a shadow of a doubt, that if that madman Tuck had gotten his hands on Honey, she wouldn't have survived, yes she was a lot stronger than she had been as a child, but Trixie was not only physically and mentally strong, Trixie had a bond with Jim, and it was that bond that had found her in the end. Matt had no doubts Trixie would have made it out on her own, she wasn't that far from the general store, but because of their bond, Jim had found her first.

"Jim, we need to get her to the hospital." Matthew finally said.

Jim struggled to get to his feet holding onto Trixie, Peter tried to take his daughter from Jim, but Jim wouldn't let go, Peter started to say something, but stopped himself, he had known for almost three years, ever since Trixie had returned with Jim's bracelet on her wrist, that the day was coming when he would have to share his princess with the man that now stood before him, he had hoped it wouldn't be this soon, but he realised now that time had come, and instead, he grabbed one of Jim's arms while Brian grabbed the other and together they helped him to his feet.

Jim carefully placed Trixie in the middle of the back seat and climb in next to her, Peter climbed in on the other side, and Brian got in the front passenger seat. Matthew Wheeler had always been a safe cautious driver, never breaking the speed limit, but today, he put his foot down hard on the pedal.

Trixie rested her head on Jim's shoulder, holding one of his hands and one of her Dad's. She opened her eyes and saw the drink bottle in the front of the car, and tried to reach for it.

Jim realising what she was doing, grabbed the bottle for her and passed it to her.

"Trixie, just drink a little bit at a time, slowly." Brian told her. "Your bodies gone without fluid for a while, you need to give it time to readjust or you might make yourself sick."

Trixie nodded weakly and did as Brian suggested, the cool water sliding down her throat was refreshing.

As they neared the outskirts of New York, Matthew Wheeler heard a siren behind him.

"Damn! I'm speeding, I'll have to stop." He said annoyed with himself, he wanted to get Trixie to a hospital as soon as possible.

Matthew waited as the officer pulled in behind him, and got out of his car walking over to his window.

"Do you realise how fast you were going sir?" the officer asked him.

"Yes, I'm sorry, we're on our way to the hospital and I wanted to get there quickly." Matthew replied.

"Say, aren't you Matthew Wheeler? I'm sorry about what happened to your friend's daughter, I'm glad they caught him." The officer replied sincerely. "That poor girl!"

"That's why I'm in a hurry officer, we found her, that's her in the back there, we want to get her to hospital as quickly as possible." Matthew told him hurriedly.

Officer Blake, looked into the back of the car, he had seen the pictures all over the newspapers and TV news, and word had gone around the precinct where he was stationed that the girl was dead, but no body had been found yet, he couldn't tell if the girl in the back was really Trixie Belden, but whoever she was, she did look like she needed to be seen by a doctor, and Matthew Wheeler was a respected Business man, he had no reason to lie. "Right, if you'll just follow me then, I'll get you there quickly." He said before returning to his vehicle.

Matthew waited for the officer to pull out, siren blaring, and he pulled in behind him, caution lights flashing.

"Hey Trix, we have a police escort!" Brian said to his sister.

Trixie managed a weak smile back at him, the small amount of water she had consumed was already making her feel better.

At some point during the drive, Matthew realised another police vehicle had pulled in behind them, and they were making quick time.

Madeleine, Helen, and the remaining Bob-Whites had reached the penthouse apartment block by this time, they heard the sirens in the distance, but none of them really took much notice, Trixie and Jim were the only things they could focus on at present.

"C'mon, let's go in, I could use a hot shower, and a change of clothes." Madeleine said, before ushering the group inside and into an elevator.

Finally they reached the hospital and Matthew followed the police car round the back into the ambulance bay, there was doctor and nurses already standing by with a gurney waiting, they quickly rushed to the car and Jim lifted Trixie out placing her on the gurney, Trixie clutched his hand not wanting to let go.

"I'll be right here Trix, I'm not going anywhere," he told her, before they wheeled her through the double doors.

"Which one of you is her father?" a nurse asked. "I need someone to fill in her details and give consent for treatment.

"I am." Peter spoke up.

The nurse handed him a form and said for them to follow her to a waiting room, she then turned to Matthew and told him he couldn't leave his car there. Matthew got back into the car and drove off to find a park, but not before telling Peter that he would come and find them shortly.

Peter, Brian and Jim were ushered into a waiting room, Peter filled in the forms and handed them back to the nurse, "If you'll all just wait here, a doctor will come and talk to shortly about your daughter." She said before leaving the room.

Twenty minutes later, Matthew joined them. "Have you heard anything?" he asked.

"No, not yet, they said someone would come and talk to us soon, but no one's come." Brian answered.

"I'd better ring Madeleine and let her know where we are and what's going on." Matthew said, before moving over to the pay phone that was in the room, and dialling.

"Hello Madeleine Wheeler speaking."

"Madeleine, it's Matthew."

"Matthew, where are you?"

"We're at the hospital."

"Hospital?" Madeleine gasped. "Oh No! What's happened, is Jim okay?"

"Jim's fine Madeleine, he did it! He found Trixie! And she's alive!" Matthew told her the excitement evident in his voice.

"Are you sure?" Was Madeleine's shocked reply.

"Yes, we're sure! She's alive!" Matthew replied.

Honey could only hear her mother's part of the conversation and she broke in, "Mother, what's wrong with Jim?" she asked concerned. "Why are they at the hospital?"

Madeleine turned to look at Honey, before meeting Helen Belden's eyes, "Jim's fine, he's fine, he found Trixie, Jim found Trixie," Madeleine managed to choke out. "And she's alive!"

**Usual disclaimer!**

**Finally I got there! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I know by your reviews you enjoyed the last one! LOL.**


	38. Chapter 38

**CHAPTER 38**

An hour later, Helen, Madeleine and the rest of the Bob-Whites were shown into the waiting room, Helen rushed to Peter.

"Is it really her, is it really Trixie? How badly hurt is she?" she asked him.

"Yes, it's Trixie, she's been with the doctors since we arrived, I don't know anything else." Peter said.

Brian spoke up, "She had something wrapped around her foot, and there was some sort of makeshift crutch laying on the ground near where Jim found her, I think she may have something wrong with one of her feet, and she will be dehydrated, other than that, she looked okay. But I can't be sure."

"That scumbag said he shot her, and … and…" Dan couldn't continue.

"I couldn't see any evidence of any gunshot wounds, she didn't have any patches of blood on her clothes to indicate any other injuries that I could see, but I didn't really examine her, I was just so happy to see her." Brian answered him.

"And we didn't question her; we just got her here as fast as we could." Matthew added.

"How did you find her Jim?" Honey asked her brother.

I saw her come out of the forest through the back window of the station-wagon as we went over the rise, we left too soon, if we had waited just a few more minutes…" Jim said quietly.

"We should have listened to you." Matthew told his son.

Jim just nodded and gave his father a small smile, he didn't understand himself how he had known she was there, he just did, and if he couldn't understand it, he couldn't expect anyone else too.

Helen Belden walked over to Jim and hugged him tightly, "Thank you," she said to him, "Thank you!"

The rest of the group crowded around Jim, the boys slapping him on the back, and the girls hugging him, thanking him for finding Trixie.

A few minutes later, the Doctor finally arrived.

"Mr and Mrs Belden, I'm doctor Reece Cameron, I've been treating your daughter" he said, "If you will accompany me, we can discuss her injuries and treatment in private."

Helen went to follow the Doctor, but Peter stopped. "Anything you need to tell us, you can say in front of everyone here, all these people are my daughter's family, they are the people she is closest too." Peter told him.

"If you're sure?" The Doctor replied.

Peter nodded his head, he was sure.

"Okay, well she's dehydrated naturally, but not as bad as we would have expected, apparently the downpour of rain came at a good time, although she now has a head cold and a throat infection, she has a lot of small abrasions and cuts from clambering through the undergrowth and climbing trees, so we've established two IV lines, one for a broad spectrum antibiotic to cover any and all infections, and the other to get her fluid levels back up. She has a badly sprained ankle, it's quite swollen and bruised, so she will need to stay off that for a while to let it heal, but there shouldn't be any on-going issues from that. Over all, considering what she's been through, she's in very good shape." The Doctor informed them.

"What about… I mean was she…" Peter took a deep breath and started again. "Was she raped, that monster said he raped her."

"No, she wasn't, she was able to tell us that herself, apparently he was going too, but she said something about a bed leg, and getting away." He answered.

A sigh of relief echoed around the room, "Thank goodness!" Helen exclaimed.

"She's an amazing young woman." Doctor Cameron continued. "She's already recovering from her ordeal, faster than I would have imagined, although she is going to need to get lots of rest over the next few days, but I am confident she will recover just fine. We will be getting the hospital psychologist to speak to her, and I will refer you to one, once she is discharged."

"Thank you Doctor." Peter said, "When can we see her?"

"Shortly, we will be moving her onto a ward soon, but it is after visiting hours, so I'm afraid we will have to restrict the visit too just two visitors, we need to think about other patients on the ward." he answered him.

"Do you have any private rooms available Doctor?" Matthew Wheeler asked.

"Yes, we do," he answered, then turned to Peter and continued, "But your medical insurance doesn't cover private rooms."

"I'll be paying for it." Matthew spoke up again.

"Matthew, I can't let you do that." Peter said.

"Peter, it's what family does." Matthew answered. "And we are family, right?" he added, reminding Peter of his earlier words.

Peter Belden hesitated for a second, looking at his wife, who nodded her head, then he smiled at Matthew and answered. "Yes, yes we are, Thank you." And he put out his hand to shake Matthew's.

"Okay, I'll go and get that organised right away, a nurse will be here shortly to show you to her room." And with that Doctor Cameron left the room.

They waited impatiently for the nurse to come and take them to Trixie, those who hadn't seen her yet, were anxious to reassure themselves it really was Trixie, and that she was alright. Peter, Brian and Matthew wanted to make sure she was okay, and that there wasn't anything else she needed. Jim just wanted to be with his special girl.

Finally the nurse came and took them all up to Trixie's room, when they entered she was laying quietly on the bed, eyes closed, and they stopped and stood still, just watching her, reassuring themselves she was real.

Trixie heard them arrive, and she opened her eyes slowly. She looked around at the group, smiling, when he eyes met Jim's she gave him an extra wide smile, before returning to Honey and holding out her hand. "Honey!" she whispered, taking note of the cut and bruising that was still healing on Honey's forehead.

Honey rushed to the bed and threw her arms around Trixie, sobbing. "I'm sorry Trixie, I'm so sorry, I wish they had taken me instead of you!"

"No Honey! No! I'm glad they took me by mistake!" Trixie managed to croak out, trying to reassure her friend. "It wasn't that bad, one of the son's, Brodin was quite nice."

"How can you say that, they kidnapped you!" Honey almost shouted.

Helen came forward then and hugged her daughter tightly, "I'm just glad you're safe, and you're okay." She said, tears streaming down her face.

Words of agreement were spoken from the group, as they al,l one by one came forward to hug Trixie. Tears in their eyes.

A nurse came into the room, to check Trixie's IV lines and make notes on her chart. "I know Doctor Cameron allowed you all in here to visit, but my patient needs to rest, so if I feel that any of you are hindering that, I will ask you to leave." She said sternly, eyeing them all, before leaving the room.

"The nurse is right, Trix, you need to get some sleep." Brian spoke up, ever conscious of putting medical concerns first.

"Will you be here when I wake up?" Trixie spoke hoarsely, "I'm afraid this is just a dream and when I wake up, I'll be back in the forest, alone." She choked out.

"We'll be here Trix, someone will still with you the whole time, I promise." Her father answered her, patting her hand reassuringly.

Jim who had stood back since they had arrived in her room, moved forward, and held onto her other hand. "I'll be here Trix." He told her, daring anyone to disagree.

"Thank you Jim," Trixie struggled to say, her throat was aching from talking too much. "Thank you for everything, when I heard you whistling out to me …" Trixie broke down, tears running down her cheeks.

"No matter where you go Trixie, I'll always find you." He told her quietly, leaning down to kiss her gently on her forehead. "Get some sleep, we'll talk more tomorrow."

Trixie closed her eyes, and was soon fast asleep, with a huge smile on her face.

The benefits of Trixie's private room, was two rocking chairs, along with the normal chairs hospitals provided. They all took turns sleeping in the rocking chairs, making sure there was always someone awake in case Trixie woke during the night. She didn't though; she slept right through until morning.

When Trixie finally started stirring, she knew something was different; she was confused and woke with a start, sitting up, tensely.

"It's ok Trix, it's ok, your safe." Jim whispered quietly to her, he had been sitting in the chair next to her bed, holding her hand.

Trixie looked over at him and smiled in relief, relaxing. She squeezed his hand, and lay back on the bed.

After breakfast, another Doctor came into visit Trixie to do her ob's. He noticed colour returning to her cheeks, and that she was more alert, although still battling a head cold and sore throat. "There's a couple of people outside wanting to talk to you, I asked them to wait until I had done my checks. Do you mind if I let them in now, if you don't feel up to it, just let me know." The doctor told her.

"It's okay," Trixie replied.

John Ogilvie and Jake Summit entered the room together, smiling at Trixie when they saw her.

"Chief Ogilvie, what are you doing here?" Trixie asked surprised to see the FBI agent they had met while travelling the Mississippi.

"John was the lead investigator for your kidnapping, Trixie, and Jake is the head of the Search and Rescue team that was searching for you in the forest." Her father answered her.

Trixie looked up at two men and smiled. "Thank you." She mouthed at them, talking was still too painful

"You're welcome Miss Belden, although I'm not sure what for, if it wasn't for Honey, we still wouldn't have any clues who had taken you!" John answered her, smiling at Honey. "And then she was the one that suggested checking out pay phones in the area, you really should be thanking her."

Trixie looked at Honey questioningly, and Honey, along with the rest of the assembled group, told Trixie just what had happened, and how Honey had been the one to 'crack' the case.

"I can see why you two make a good team," John told her.

Trixie and Honey smiled at each other.

"I'm sorry to bring this up now, but I have been to see Mr Tuck, he has finally admitted to your abduction, it was pointless him denying it when his own sons had already confirmed it. Hopefully they will all plead guilty and you won't have to go through a trial."

"There's something I don't understand John, why did he lie to us? Why did he tell us he had raped and shot her? When obviously he hadn't." Peter asked him.

Trixie was surprised she didn't know her family had spoken to Joel Tuck.

"He wanted to hurt Matthew, he blamed him for the mess his life was in, while he was running the family Inn, he was able to keep his addictions in check, but as soon as the responsibilities of running the Inn had gone, he went wild, drinking, gambling and prostitution, once the money had run out, he knew it wouldn't be long before his double life was revealed, and instead of accepting the responsibility for his own actions he chose to blame Matthew, and wanted revenge, when he saw you at the camp site, he realised that you cared about Trixie's welfare, so he lied." John told him.

"I believe that wasn't all he was hoping to achieve," Jake spoke up. "When he told me Trixie was dead, he also indicated she was somewhere back behind him closer to the cabin, even though he would have known she was further away than that, no doubt he was hoping that she would perish somewhere out there in the forest before we realised he had lied, fortunately he was wrong, but on the other hand, unfortunately _we_ _also_ underestimated you young lady, you got further than we thought you would."

Trixie smiled at Jim and squeezed his hand again, "I had a good teacher!" she whispered.

"You were a good student." Jim told her, smiling back at her.

"There's something I have to know," John said. "The searchers found a bed leg in the forest, did you have anything to do with that?"

Trixie blushed and nodded her head, embarrassed.

"I thought so, especially when I found your name scratched into the skirting board, that's what got the Tuck boys talking, they couldn't deny you had been there once we had found that." John told her. "What did you use it for?" he asked her.

"I used it to hit Joel before I got away." Her voice was getting quieter and quieter.

"Where did you get the idea to use the bed leg?" He questioned her further, impressed.

Trixie pointed to brother and smiled, "From Mart." She croaked.

"The sleepover a couple of months ago!" Di exclaimed. "Mart took the leg from your bed!"

Trixie nodded, struggling to keep her eyes open.

John realising Trixie was getting tired, stood up, announcing that they needed to leave, to tie up loose ends, and that he would talk to her again soon when she was feeling better.

"It was a pleasure to finally meet you Trixie," Jake said to her. "I heard a lot about you from your family and friends, I thought they were exaggerating, but obviously they weren't, I am really impressed with your resourcefulness."

With that, the two men left the room.

Trixie tried unsuccessfully to hide a yawn, and smiled sheepishly.

"Get some sleep Trixie, we want you to get well quickly." Her dad said, and everyone nodded their agreement.

"You should all go and get some sleep too, I'll be okay." She said before closing her eyes, and it wasn't long before she was fast asleep.

Her family and friends decided between themselves that the Belden's and Jim would remain at the hospital with Trixie, while everyone else would go back to the penthouse to catch up on some sleep, and they would trade places later.


	39. Chapter 39

**CHAPTER 39**

When Trixie woke up a few hours later, the Wheelers, plus Di and Dan had returned, everyone was sitting quietly, just watching over her.

"Hey sleepyhead!" Jim said, smiling at her, he was still sitting in the chair next to her bed, holding her hand gently.

"Hey yourself." She smiled back at him, before grimacing at the pain in her throat.

"Don't talk Trix, just rest." Moms said to her, there'll be plenty of time for talking later.

Trixie sat and listened as they all talked around her, filling her in on any extra details they had missed while John and Jake had been present earlier. Brian told her about Honey slapping Joel Tuck; he had been secretly impressed with Honey. Trixie had looked at Honey in surprise, and held her hand up for a 'high five'. Honey slapped her hand, a lot gentler than she had slapped Joel Tuck, and told her. "It felt good Trix, real good!"

The boys had laughed at that, each wishing they had gotten the chance to deliver a good wallop to Joel Tuck, but happy at the same time, that at least one of them had.

Soon afterwards the door had opened, and Wendell Mollison walked into the room.

"Oh NO! Sergeant Mollison! Please tell me you haven't come to lecture me!" Trixie croaked out, with a smile on her face.

Wendell seeing the smile, laughed.

"No, actually I've come to ask for your help." He told her.

"Please! Not another Mystery!" Jim groaned dramatically, his lopsided grin indicating that he wasn't serious, well not totally serious.

"No, not another mystery." Wendell replied. "I want to approach Principal Stratton about running self-defence classes at your school, I was hoping that you, and Miss Wheeler, along with Miss Lynch, if she wants, would be the first to sign up. If I can convince him there is interest in the classes he is more likely to agree." Wendell told her.

Trixie nodded her head, and hoarsely replied with a "YES!"

Honey and Di, did the same.

"Sharon Lynch, and I are on the school PTA, we'll be sure to support your application too, I think it's a great idea, every girl should learn how to defend herself." Helen Belden added.

"I'll be more than happy to donate money to pay for anything needed for the classes Wendell, just let me know." Matthew told him, "You can let Stratton know it won't cost him anything."

"That's great!" Wendell said. "I appreciate your support." After pausing for a few seconds, he continued. "There's one more thing I want to ask, I know you usually work as a candy stripper during the holidays Trixie, but that's going to be hard with an injured foot, I was wondering if you would like some work at the station, there's a lot of filing that needs to be added to the new computer system, I thought you might enjoy that, if it's okay with your parents that is." Wendell added, looking questioningly at Peter and Helen.

Trixie looked at her parents excitedly; she would love the chance to work at the police station.

Seeing Peter and Helen's confused and concerned faces, Wendell added, "She won't be involved in any cases, she'll be working along with Carrie the station's sectary, so she won't be stationed at the front desk, dealing with the public or any unsavoury characters that might come in, naturally I will take personal responsibility for her safety." He reassured them.

Finally both Peter and Helen nodded their consent, knowing that Trixie wouldn't be very mobile for a while, and Wendell's suggestion would help her combat her boredom, Trixie wasn't one for sitting still for long.

Wendell thanked them, and shortly afterwards left the room to return to Sleepyside, but not before telling Trixie he was glad that she was alright, and he was looking forward to working with her soon.

An hour later, the 'horrorcane' that was Bobby Belden rushed into the room, followed closely by Ed and Sharon Lynch with their two sets of twins. Bobby immediately launched himself at his sister. "I mithed you Trixie!" he said, covering her with kisses.

Trixie hugged her little brother close, savouring the feeling. "I missed you too Bobby." She managed to croak out.

Bobby removed the pack back he was wearing, and pulled out his favourite book, Peter Rabbit, he placed it in his sister's hands.

"Can you read to me please Trixie, no one reads as good as you!" He asked her sincerely.

Before Trixie could answer, Jim spoke up. "Hey Bobby, Trixie has a sore throat and can't talk very well at the moment, how about I read it to you, while Trixie turns the pages?"

"Okay." Bobby agreed, settling down on the bed next to Trixie.

Trixie opened the book to the first page, and Jim started to read. Trixie looked over at him and smiled, sometime in the past few hours they had become a couple. _No, _she amended, _they had always been a couple_, but the boundaries had changed, they were no longer hiding how they felt. There hadn't been a big declaration of undying love, or anything like that, they didn't need it, somehow they had both instinctively known things had changed. She looked around the room at her family and friends, and realised, that they too had accepted the change in their relationship.

"Trixie, Trixie!" Bobby was calling, trying to get Trixie's attention. "Are you going to turn the page?"

Trixie hugged him, before reaching out to turn the page.

Once Jim had started reading again, she reached her arm out behind Bobby's back and took Jim's hand in her own, he looked at her and smiled, squeezing her hand gently, he saw the message her eyes were conveying.

Sitting at the end of the bed, watching the scene in front of him, Peter Belden had a vision of the future. He could see Trixie and Jim with a child of their own, happy and content. Sure they would have bumps in their journey, what couple didn't, but Peter was confident they would overcome any obstacles life put in their way.

The fairy tale that was Jim and Trixie would end the way all good fairy tales ended.

And they lived happily ever after.

**-00—00—00—**

**Wow! Finally I've finished! **

**I hope this chapter isn't a bit of a let-down, I was going to write a big smushing ending, but I changed my mind. **

**Thank you so much to all of you who have followed my story and commented regularly, your positive remarks encouraged me to keep going. **

**Please review again, and if you don't mind, in your final reviews could you please let me know what your favourite part of the story was, or even any parts you didn't enjoy. **

**My favourite part's were Honey's, I wanted to write her coming into her own, in the series I felt that it was usually Trixie that worked out the answers while Honey supports her. (That is just my observation.) Hopefully my story conveys the idea that in the future, both Honey and Trixie would work together equalling sharing in solving mysteries.**

**I have mixed feelings finishing this story, I have really enjoyed writing it, while re-reading it, there are parts I'm not happy with, but overall, it has been a lot of fun. Even though I knew what the outcome was going to be all along, I still 'teared up' in some places, and typed with a big smile on my face and happy tears in my eyes when writing chapters 36 and 37.**

**Once again, I would like to thank my loyal readers and reviewers. **


	40. Chapter 40 Epilogue

**Hope you enjoy this little titbit, again it's something that popped into my head and just wouldn't go away. I am definitely leaving this story here now. Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story, I truly appreciate it. **

**2 months later.**

"You don't have to do this you know." Jim said quietly. "If you change your mind at any time, just let me know okay, it's not a problem."

Trixie turned and looked at him, sighing deeply, "Jim, can we please _not_ go over this again!"

Now it was Jim's turn to sigh, before finally shrugging and replying "Okay, if you're sure."

"You don't have to come with me Jim, I can go by myself." Trixie told him.

"NO WAY TRIX!" Jim exclaimed loudly, "YOU ARE NOT GOING ON YOUR OWN!"

"There's no need to yell Jim," Trixie replied calmly, frustrated, but at the same time relieved that Jim was coming with her.

"Sorry Trix, just thinking about it makes my blood boil, but it you feel like you need to do this, then we'll do it, _together._"

"Thanks Jim." Trixie smiled at him, and reached over to squeeze his hand tightly.

Jim smiled back at Trixie, squeezing her hand in return, before letting go and placing it back on the wheel. He didn't understand her need to visit Brodin Tuck, he had raised his concerns with Trixie's counsellor Lisa, hoping she would be able to get Trixie to change her mind, but while Lisa couldn't tell Jim what she and Trixie talked about, she had explained Stockholm Syndrome to him, where captives start to have an emotional attachment to their captives, Trixie felt gratitude towards Brodin, he had made her 'stay' in the cabin bearable.

Trixie's parents and her brothers had wanted to come with her for support, but Trixie had refused to allow them, so Jim had offered, Trixie hadn't been very receptive to that either, but in the end, she had to agree to someone accompanying her, since she wasn't able to drive there herself, and she had asked Jim to go with her.

Peter had taken Jim aside before they left; they were relying on him to look after Trixie, to not let Brodin get to her in anyway. Jim knew physically Brodin couldn't, he would be behind a safety glass in a cubicle, with guards standing by, he just hoped mentally Brodin didn't try anything.

As they got closer to the prison Brodin Tuck was being held in, Trixie started to fidget about, feeling anxious, she wondered if she was doing the right thing after all, but she had made a promise to Brodin.

Jim noting Trixie's restlessness reached over and patted her knee, "You okay Trix?" he asked.

Trixie nodded slowly, and let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding, Jim's presence soothed her and her anxiousness abated. "I'm fine Jim." She said smiling at him.

Jim nodded, keeping his eyes on the road, he didn't want to miss the turn off, or did he?

Trixie relaxed back into her seat and let her mind wander back over the past two months, since she had been rescued.

….

She had been kept in hospital for five days in the end, five long days. By the time the doctors had finally agreed to release her, she had been ready to climb the walls.

It wasn't that she was bored, or was finding laying still a challenge, not at all, in fact, for once in her life, she had enjoyed the chance to just relax and not worry about chores or anything else. No it was the fact that _No One_, and she meant _No One_ would leave her and Jim alone, not even for a second! She realised it wasn't deliberate, they were all just so glad to see her, and to know she was going to be okay, but _seriously_, couldn't they understand her frustration! She and Jim were finally a couple, and yet they hadn't had a chance to actually talk about it.

Things hadn't been much better when she got home, family from near and far had descended on Crabapple Farm, finally the 'stretchy walls' had reached their limits, and Matthew and Madeleine had opened up their home to the invading Belden's and Johnson's. Trixie had even offered to be one of the ones shipped off to Manor House, but no one took her seriously. Funny that.

Not that Trixie had minded seeing her Aunts and Uncles, or cousins; she had even enjoyed spending time with Aunt Alicia's, and with Hallie, of all people.

Finally one week and five days after being rescued, Trixie and Jim had had a moment alone.

…..

Trixie was dozing when she heard a soft knock on her door.

"You awake Trix?" She heard Jim's husky voice ask quietly.

She opened her eyes, and smiled at him, gesturing for him to come in.

"Everyone's finally left I see." Jim stated.

"Well, all except Aunt Alicia and Hallie." Trixie corrected him. Aunt Alicia was going for an extra week to Help Helen out around the farm and with looking after Trixie, while Hallie was staying for the rest of the summer holidays to help out.

"It's going to be a lot quieter now up at Manor House with everyone gone, although it was great to catch up with Knut and Cap again." Jim told her.

"I guess Brian and Mart have moved back now?" Trixie asked him. With Knut and Cap staying at Manor House, Brian and Mart had been asked to stay there too, giving up their room for Aunt Alicia and Hallie. Naturally they had wanted to stay close to Trixie, but had finally agreed.

"Yup, they sure have, they couldn't pack their things fast enough!" Jim exclaimed. "I'm not sure whether I should be offended or not!" he added, trying his best to look offended.

Trixie found herself laughing at Jim's antics, and he finally joined in with her.

"It sure is good to hear you laugh Trix, for a while there I wondered if I would ever get to hear it again."

Trixie smiled at him, reaching out a hand to grasp his securely in hers. He smiled back, holding her hand just as tightly, as he slowly moved closer, her eyes locked with his, and it seemed as if Time itself stood still.

Jim's face was only inches away from hers, when he stopped, watching the play of emotions crossing her face, before he shut his eyes, and finally closed the distance between them, he placed his lips gently but firmly against hers, and held them there savouring the feeling, then he pulled back slightly, before softly kissing her again, letting his lips slide over hers.

A loud noise in the hallway startled them both and they broke apart, Trixie looked down, feeling the all too familiar flush creeping up her neck towards her face.

Jim raised his hand and cupped Trixie's chin and raised her head, softly caressing her cheek with his thumb, his lopsided grin capturing her eyes, before she finally raised them to meet his.

Just then Mart and Brian stumbled loudly into her room, as they both turned to face them, the moment past.

….

Trixie grinned to herself, they had kissed many times since then, and it only got better. Kissing Jim had been better than she had ever imagined.

"What are you smiling about Trix?" Jim asked her, breaking into her thoughts.

Trixie turned to look at him and smiling widely, she simply answered. "You."

Jim chuckled, and quickly reached his hand over to hold one of hers, bringing it to his lips, he gently kissed her knuckles before releasing it. "I'd better keep my eyes on the road now Trix; I don't want to miss the turn off."

A short time later, they were pulling up outside the prison facility that held Brodin Tuck. Trixie slowly got out of the car, reaching her hand out to Jim as he came around to stand beside her.

"You ready Trix?" he asked her, looking worriedly at her pale face.

"Yes Jim, I'm ready." She replied taking a deep breath, "Let's go."

Clearing security took a while, they had to pass through a metal detector and empty out their pockets, before answering a few questions, finally they were lead down a long corridor and into a booth, before being told to take a seat, and that Brodin would be with them shortly.

They waited quietly together, neither speaking until finally a door on the other side opened and Brodin Tuck entered the booth, he looked up in surprise when he saw Trixie and Jim sitting there, and he hesitated, one of the guards following him, pushed him towards the seat, and finally he sat down.

Trixie indicated the phone that was on the wall next to her, and picked it up, waiting for Brodin to do the same.

"Hi Brodin." She said a little shakily, this was harder than she had imagined it would be, seeing him like this.

"Hi Trixie." He replied softly.

"I just wanted to thank you Brodin," Trixie began, then seeing the shocked look on Brodin's face at her words, she continued. "If it wasn't for you, I'm sure things would have ended differently."

Trixie felt Jim stiffen besides her, and she squeezed his hand.

"You shouldn't be thanking me Trixie; I'm the one who's sorry. I wish I had never agreed to his stupid plan, I should have gone straight to the police, then none of this would have happened. If only I could go back and change things I would." Brodin stammered, tears forming in his eyes.

Trixie smiled gently at him, "We all make mistakes Brodin, and sometimes unfortunately, they are big ones, I've made a few of those myself." She finished thinking of the time she had unwittingly smuggled counterfeit money plates into the country, luckily for her it had ended well, but it could have just as easily gone the other way. "The main thing is that we learn from our mistakes."

Brodin nodded slowly, before finally replying, "I know your right Trixie, but I still feel guilty, I was just so scared of him and what he would do to Mom if I didn't go along with his plan, I didn't think about anything else, or who else we would be hurting. None of you deserved that."

"I'm just glad that I don't have to go to court, thanks to you testifying against your father." Trixie told him.

"I'm glad too, I didn't want you to have to go through that, you've been through enough because of my family." Brodin told her sincerely.

Trixie sat back and smiled at Brodin, glad that she had come to visit him.

"Is he Mr Wheeler's son?" Brodin asked her, nodding at Jim.

"Oh, yes, yes he is, sorry, I didn't introduce you did I?" Trixie said. "This is Jim."

"It's okay, he doesn't look very happy with me anyway, not that I blame him." Brodin replied. "I'm surprised to see any of you here, I never expected to see you again Trixie."

"Well, I did …" Trixie stopped, she had come to see Brodin because she had made a promise, and she was worried about what would happen if she broke that promise, but now, seeing Brodin and talking to him, she realised she didn't have to worry, Brodin would be fine, eventually.

"I just wanted to come and say goodbye." Trixie said, surprising herself and Jim, who looked at her sharply.

"I understand Trixie, I really appreciate you coming to see me at all, it can't have been easy for you." Brodin replied sadly.

Trixie smiled at Brodin one last time, before standing up to leave. Jim stood next to her, holding her hand, he silently nodded at Brodin, before they both left the booth.

Once they were outside again, Trixie closed her eyes and let the warmth of the sun wash over her, rejuvenating her. Finally sixty one days after being rescued, she finally felt free.


End file.
